LONSBERRY: Stupidity at the U of R

Garbage in, garbage out.

If you teach people stupid things, they do stupid things.

That ought to be the motto of the University of Rochester which, in its ever-leftward lurch from relevance, has decided that association by gender is always discriminatory.

This is part of that fascinating innovation of American progressivism that asserts that gender is an unnatural construct probably first imposed by heterosexist European slaveholders in their efforts to force the world into Christianity and onto the Trump Train.

Progressives believe in science, except the part about X chromosomes and Y chromosomes.

And the University of Rochester believes in being smart, except about things like common sense.

And so it is that the All-Campus Judicial Council -- an 11-student body of deep thinkers -- has determined that fraternities and sororities and women's rugby teams are all discriminatory. Also those singing groups where nobody knows how to play an instrument and they do all sorts of odd hand gestures and facial expressions.

The issue arose in January when four students appeared before the Student Association to register a complaint. They said that a close reading of SA rules banned discrimination based on gender, and that their thorough research had showed that some 55 student organizations used gender language in their promotional materials, or limited their membership to one gender or the other.

This was back in January, when we still thought there were only two genders.

The thorough research must have taken place when these scholars weren't busy with their studies, or occupied dating men/women/inflatables.

Specifically, the shining lights argued, how can you say a fraternity doesn't discriminate against women, or a sorority doesn't discriminate against men, or men's club-athletic teams don't discriminate against women and vice versa? 

It was one of those arguments that in an earlier day would have been greeted by a, "Shut up, you're being stupid," from an upperclassman. 

But now -- in an era when the very word "upperclassman" is hate speech -- such bull crap gets taken seriously.

And so it is that 11 students on the All-Campus Judicial Council -- each getting one of the most expensive college educations America has to offer -- crapped the intellectual bed. 

Apparently, the Yellow Jackets have to add a soprano and an alto. 

More specifically, any grouping of students by gender or any on- or off-campus competition based on gender is a violation of the some sacred discrimination rule and is forbidden to organizations that get finacial or material support from the Student Association.

That's everybody.

And so it was that on Friday, when this ruling came out, the University of Rochester found itself in an embarrassing spot. The chickens had come home to roost. After all that garbage going in, it was starting to come out.

And that gets distracting for the university president, who is busy running Rochester and its economic development and its public schools and its social consciousness and all the other things academics have to do because the townies are too benighted to figure it out for themselves. It also gets touchy because the alums are going to find out and they -- some of whom are Trump voters -- are going to get pissy and not be as responsive to the argument that a $2.21 billion endowment isn't quite large enough. 

Also, shutting down fraternities, or letting the women sleep over even when they're not drunk, is disquieting to rich old donors who remember fondly being spanked with paddles while Peter, Paul and Mary played in the background.

Further, some people -- again, probably Trump voters -- fail to see the social harm done when women play against women or men play against men in sports. These Neanderthals actually see that as "fair" as opposed to "sexist."

So the university -- the real university, not the freshmen in hemp ponchos -- has to pretend to "empower" students and their progressive wet dreams while not completely jumping off the deep end.

And this ruling is the deep end.

And its embarrassment of the university is the lesser of its evils.

The greater is the sad fact that these 11 students, supposedly benefited by one of the most elite educations in America, have no more common sense or understanding of the real world than to come to such an inane conclusion. They may be educated, but they are not learned. They have been indoctrinated into a world that does not exist; they have been sold a world view that is not enlightened, but perverted. 

It's OK for men to form clubs and associations, and women to form clubs and associations. There is no harm in men singing together, or women singing together. Men's basketball and women's basketball are not offensive and oppressive. The freedom of assembly in the First Amendment implies a cultural assumption that it is up to the assemblers to determine who is or is not amongst them.

And all of that, so obvious to the vast majority of Americans, was not evident to the All-Campus Judicial Council.

Which says something not about them, but about the university itself.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content