By Printus LeBlanc

College is supposed to prepare young people for the world. Students are supposed to gain knowledge and learn skills that prepare them for a career, while challenging their minds. Somewhere along the line that changed. Colleges have become indoctrination factories reminiscent of the Soviet Union, and this is influencing the IDEA of college. In fact, a recent Pew poll shows “58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country.” What caused the change?

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a ruling that is being ignored by many colleges and universities today. Brown v. Board of Education ended the repugnant idea of separate but equal, codified in the SCOTUS case Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. Simply put, the decision ended racial segregation by stating segregation is discrimination by race. If this case happened over 60 years ago, why are universities still pushing segregation?

Some universities are now offering segregated housing such as California State University of Los Angeles. The university announced the policy in 2016 to much fanfare. The education watchdog group The College Fix approached the university about the segregation. Cal State LA spokesman Robert Lopez responded via email stating the dormitory, “focuses on academic excellence and learning experiences that are inclusive and non-discriminatory.” Yes, an institution of “higher learning” used the words “inclusive and non-discriminatory” when describing segregated housing.

It doesn’t end there. According to the New York Times, Harvard University held an African-American only commencement this year for the first time. Once again, a college professes to pursue diversity and inclusivity while practicing the exact opposite. You spend your life teaching your child race doesn’t matter, and when your child gets to college they are told the opposite. Somewhere Clinton family mentor and noted segregationists J. William Fulbright is smiling because he is getting what he wanted.

Not only is segregation making a comeback on college campuses, diversity of thought is not allowed on campus at all. Two different studies show a disturbing pattern of discrimination based upon political leanings.

Yoel Inbar and Joris Lammers conducted a study titled “Political Diversity in Social and Personality Psychology.” Amongst the findings 25 percent of those surveyed with liberal leanings said they would discriminate against conservatives in grant reviews. One third would discriminate in hiring practices against conservatives.

George Yancy conducted a survey and published by Baylor University titled “Compromising Scholarship, Religious and Political Bias in American Higher Education”. The survey found an astounding 30 percent of academics surveyed would be less likely to hire someone if they knew the person was republican. Students depend on the intellectual honesty of professors and professionals for grades and recommendations. How can students trust a college if those running the college have an open disdain for anyone not like them politically?

If you haven’t noticed, college campuses seem to be where the heckler’s veto became the rioter’s veto. It seems every time a conservative group on a college campus wants to have a speaker show up, riots follow. When Milo Yiannaopoulos went to speak at UC Berkeley, the capital of the “free speech” movement in the 1960s, he was met with riots from the group Antifa. Antifa is a violent fascist communist group that believes anyone that does not believe what they believe should be attacked, sometimes verbally but most often physically.

This is not a lone incident. Whenever any “conservative” speaker is invited to a college campus, college administrators often use “security” as a reason to disinvite the speaker. Ben Shapiro has had multiple speaking engagements cancelled or interrupted by rioters that disagree him. The question should then be asked, what type of environment is being fostered at a university when a small Jewish man scares the administration into canceling an event?

Not only do these campus groups use the rioter’s veto, they use it with impunity. You would be hard pressed to find an instance when a rioter at a campus university faced serious disciplinary actions for their criminal behavior.

The question shouldn’t be why republicans do not trust colleges and universities. The question should be, what have colleges and universities done to lose the trust of republicans. They segregate students, ignore the constitution, and don’t allow different points of view. After looking at the evidence, frankly, it is surprising only 58 percent of republicans say colleges have a negative effect.

Printus LeBlanc is a contributing reporter for Americans for Limited Government.