Campus Reform: University of Washington - Seattle Campus

Tonight, students and professors of the University of Washington and citizens of Seattle will pack the Senators Warren G. Magnuson & Henry M. Jackson Trial Room to hear a debate on the constitutionality of the health care plan that recently passed in Congress.

The Young Americans for Liberty chapter at Washington found it shocking that the University of Washington Law School made the claim that no person could be found to challenge the constitutionality of the legislation in a prior forum on the subject, as more than 54 percent of Americans opposed the bill.

The Cato Institute's Illya Shapiro found this claim shocking as well, as he will be arguing against the legislation tonight. Long time UW Law Professor Stewart Jay will argue in favor of the constitutionality of the legislation.

"Shapiro issued an open challenge to any group that wants to debate the constitutionality of the health care legislation and thus far only the University of Washington has accepted this invitation," said outgoing Washington YAL President Mikayla Hall.

What constitutes a leftist abuse on a college campus? The Leadership Institute has compiled a list that outlines abuses of academic freedom to help you understand the severity of the problem, as the left has a near monopoly on political thought and discourse at campuses across the nation. 

Few colleges in America see monolithic leftist views in its faculty and administrators like the University of Washington. Indeed, the campus is almost the posterchild of leftist abuse of academic freedom.

All incoming freshmen at Washington partake in a program called the Common Book initiative, which describes itself this way :

Initiated by Undergraduate Academic Affairs in 2006, the UW Common Book aims to introduce and engage freshmen in the University's intellectual community. During summer orientation, University of Washington freshmen receive a common text with the expectation that they read it before fall quarter begins.

Having freshmen read a common text and then engaging in intellectual discourse is an admirable initiative by the University of Washington, but the decision to use President Barack Obama's 1995 book Dreams of my Father raises signficant red flags given its inclusion of significant pushes for certain political ideologies and opposition to the principles of conservatism.