I thought my Alma Mater was a liberal bastion of lunacy 10 years ago, but things have gotten worse. Campus crime has increased over the last two years as sexual assaults and muggings are up. Not only are guns banned on campus but now crime alerts cannot state the race or ethnicity of the attacker because it hurt somebody's feelings. This was brought to my attention by a close acquaintance who works for the University and is afraid to state her opinions for fear of losing her job. A group of ten students who formed a group called "Whose Diversity" strong armed the noodle-nadded University president into adopting their "demands" which included:

*Using race in suspect descriptions must be determined on a case-by-case basis. The University already routinely withheld description of race in most crime alerts, but this rule will virtually eliminate use of race. The suspect could be described as "6 foot tall wearing blue jeans and a white shirt". (Great, that really helps the women around campus avoid a potential rapist.)

*Asking potential students if they have a criminal background in applications is now banned. (Great, more rapists and muggers on campus to not report on.)

*Four new tenured faculty for cultural studies departments - The U has already started this "cluster hiring". The group demanded a tenured faculty head for the Chicano Studies department for a program that has had, at its peak, around 70 students.

*The two-year language requirement for the CLA is now going to be a Cultural Studies requirement (So taking two years of African American Studies now equates to near fluency in French or Spanish, or Greek, etc. Now, the forced two-year guilt/victim trip is a requirement.)

*Increased spending on recruiting non-white students

*Replacing white faculty and administrative staff with non-white faculty and staff. (Wait, I thought that was called discriminatory hiring??)

*The University's commitment to becoming a world-class research institution (already listed in top 5 research universities in the US) is racist and caters to privileged rich white people. The University should change its goals to be more inclusive.

Why is this needed? The University hosted "Campus Climate Focus Groups" in which students and faculty were brought together to identify problems with diversity and racism in the university. There was no mention of any instances of hate crime or racist hiring practices or illegal discrimination. All of the issues brought up talked about "safe spaces for people of color", the need for gender neutral restrooms, and people "feeling uncomfortable". All of the complaints resulted in somebody's feelings getting hurt, nobody was physically hurt or had their rights violated.
A link to the focus group study can be found here: (WARNING GRAPHIC KINDERGARTEN-LEVEL WHINING) http://campusclimate.umn.edu/sites/campu...

These ten students who have made these expensive demands on a University in the most progressive, liberal district of the state feel that the area is not 'progressive enough'. In a year or two, these ten students will be gone, but the U and 60,000 other students for decades to come will be stuck with the bill. People will still get offended, and life will go on. Meanwhile, people like my friend are in fear of losing their jobs for speaking their mind. What is the solution? All students of significant ability, regardless of color and background, should not attend this University. This is no place for an independent mind because it does not allow independent thinking.