Columnist Decries Liberal Censorship of Campus 9/11 Memorials
by Jim Brown
September 16, 2005
(AgapePress) - A conservative columnist says many Leftist administrators on high school and university campuses either censored or set up needless roadblocks for students who wanted to memorialize the 4th anniversary of 9/11. The Young America's Foundation reports that three years ago it recognized campuses were devoid of any acknowledgment of 9/11 and instead were holding politically correct rallies and so-called "peace-fests." Jason Mattera, a spokesman for the Young America's Foundation, says schools often associate any 9/11 memorial with the Iraq war. "Many professors, many administrators on campus are anti-Bush, and a lot of their peace-fests turn into Bush-bashing rallies, and they're sponsored by an array of socialist organizations," he notes.
Also, Mattera contends, many professors and administrators seek to censor 9/11 commemorative activities because they believe the 2001 attacks were caused not by Islamic terrorism but by Western imperialism. In a column for TownHall.com, the conservative spokesman documents a story in which a New York high school rejected students' 9/11 memorial, arguing that the "Never Forget" pins they wanted to distribute could be used as deadly weapons, and the American flags would poke holes in the school's football field.
And in another case, the columnist recalls, "One administrator at Washburn University in Kansas told Sean Harrington, a college conservative, that he had to camp out for 24-hours a day and watch the American flags he plotted in the ground; 24 hours a day for the amount of time that they were out there -- I think it was three days."
Mattera claims the list of such obstructions is endless. Nevertheless, he notes, more than 100 high schools and colleges took part this year in the foundation's 9/11: Never Forget Project, which entailed -- among other things -- plotting 3,000 American flags on school quads and handing out "Never Forget" buttons.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
