Do we really have free speech on university and college campuses in the U.S.? The answer, according to film-makers Evan Coyne Maloney, Stuart E. Browning, and Blaine Greenberg of On The Fence Films, is a resounding NO. These three men, university graduates, have produced an independent documentary called Brainwashing 101 that illustrates their contention.

Still image from Brainwashing 101
By focusing on three specific incidents at three different institutions, the film provides a disturbing look at the effect of unequal application of politically-correct university speech codes. Maloney et al examine a school in Lewisburg, PA (Bucknell Univ.), a rural southern campus in Jackson, TN (Univ. of Tennessee); and a university in California (CalPoly) at San Luis Obispo.

You may be surprised at the extent to which such institutions are willing to go to stifle unpopular speech. We're not talking about hate speech, here. In fact, one conservative student who appears in the film, a Sikh, was prevented from presenting his opinions, while the university system allowed an eMail memo from a school official whom he had criticized (which recommended he or "any raghead you meet" be "shot in the face") to go uncommented. Another was arrested for attempting to post a flyer containing the title of a book by a conservative black lecturer; he was "a suspicious white male passing out literature of an offensive racial nature."

By focusing on three specific incidents, the film avoids being shrill or unreasonable. The film-makers have also gone to great effort to include both sides of the arguments in the film.

Still image from Brainwashing 101
For example, in discussing the incident at Maloney's alma mater, Bucknell University, many clips feature a professor of economics, Geoffrey Schneider, whose view is that Bucknell Univ. Conservative Club (BUCC) members are "unconsciously racist." In fact, following their challenges of the gag order which prohibits students from protesting or discussing the "speech codes" of the university, the ACLU had to become involved to prevent expulsion of two BUCC students.

At Cal Poly, Maloney and his cameraman were assured by the campus PR person that they could film anywhere, but when they requested a quote from the University President's office, a slick aide intercepted them and had campus security called to escort them off campus, warning them that if they returned they would be subject to arrest.

They went to Cal Poly because the university had charged a student, Steve Hinkle, with racist speech after he tried to post a flyer for a College Republican-sponsored lecture by black author C. Mason Weaver. Weaver's book title, It's Okay to Leave the Plantation, was the only text on the flyer, along with the author's name and the date and time of the lecture. His picture was also on the flyer. Hinkle had a courteous exchange with a student in the campus center where he wished to post the flyer, and the student called campus security to arrest him for "posting hate speech."