Washington State professors threaten students with failing grades for using what they consider “oppressive and hateful language”. Much like the University of New Hampshire’s “Bias-Free Language Guide“, Washington State is attempting to curtail hateful words such as “male”, “female”, or “illegal alien” from their campus.

Among the educators working to irradiate such hate speech is Professor John Streamas, whose class “Introduction to Multicultural Literature” is an integral part of any college student’s success in the real world. I wonder if he teaches about irony, because I recall Streamas making headlines for calling a student a “white shitbag” and also stating Washington State University (WSU) should stand for “White Supremacist University”.

Maybe he’s ‘evolved’ because he is now also demanding that his students “understand and consider the rage of people who are victims of systematic injustice.” Then again, in the guidelines in his syllabus, Streamas closes by calling Glenn Beck an “insensitive white.” Maybe not so evolved after all.

Several other WSU professors also require their students to “acknowledge that racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and other institutionalized forms of oppression exist” or that “we do not live in a post-radical world.” However, they provide no clarification on which direction said racism, classism, sexism, and other institutionalized forms of oppression come from. Again: ironic.

According to the syllabus for Selena Lester Breikss’ “Women & Popular Culture” class, students risk a failing grade if they use any common descriptors that Breikss considers “oppressive and hateful language.” The punishment for repeatedly using the banned words, Breikss warns, includes “but [is] not limited to removal from the class without attendance or participation points, failure of the assignment, and— in extreme cases— failure for the semester.”

What ever happened to “Freedom of Speech”? Where are our First Amendment rights to say the words “male”, “female”, and the dreaded (and highly accurate label of) “illegal alien”?

Should we chalk this up to yet another nail in the coffin of this nation’s First Amendment or is this just the most recent example of political correctness cutting down individual expression?

Either way, it’s a baseball bat to the kneecaps of our future generation’s ability to think for themselves and express their opinions. This is one female who is sick of educators, male or female, telling any fellow American they will fail or be punished for speaking the truth.