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.
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