Awards spotlight politically wrong

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Consider the fate of Le Moyne College graduate student Scott McConnell, who wrote a paper last year rejecting multiculturalism and suggesting that 'light spanking' might be helpful in elementary schools.

He was expelled and his 2005 registration withdrawn. The school, in Syracuse, N.Y., informed Mr. McConnell that its decision was prompted 'by a mismatch between your personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the Le Moyne College program goals.'

The follies of political correctness in academia do not go unnoticed. For the eighth consecutive year, the Collegiate Network (CN) has named the 'worst campus outrages' in the nation.

Le Moyne College won first prize.

The Delaware-based research group announced the winners of six 'Polly' awards today, to remind the public that college administrators, faculty and students with distinct political agendas can undermine higher education.

?These awards were created to focus national attention on the absurdities of political correctness rampant on college campuses and the ways in which those excesses contribute to the decline of educational standards,? said T. Kenneth Cribb Jr., CN president, yesterday.

In addition to monitoring academic high jinks, the group advises independent student newspapers that espouse traditional, conservative views.

Meanwhile, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas won second place after economics professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe received disciplinary sanctions for telling his class that homosexuals may lack long-term financial goals because many do not have children for whom to plan.

One student accused Mr. Hoppe of 'stereotyping homosexuals' and advised the professor ?to make sure he is remaining as politically correct as possible.?

Duke University ranked third after the school spent $50,000 on security for a Palestine Solidarity Movement conference. The organization has admitted ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Carnegie Mellon University tied for third place for hosting New Black Panther Party chief Malik Zulu Shabazz, who asked Jews in the audience to raise their hands and then said, 'I'm watching you.'

In fourth place, Occidental College was deemed Kafkaesque by CN for firing a student radio host who offended three students on the air. The college said he was guilty of ?sexual- and gender-hostile harassment? of the entire campus.

Harvard University placed fifth after the faculty protested university President Lawrence H. Summers' suggestion that intrinsic sex differences might account for the fact that men have more top jobs in the sciences.

Referring to the University of Colorado professor who ignited national outcry with his essay comparing September 11, 2001, victims to Nazis, CN said, ?Ward Churchill is defended by the academic community for declaring the victims of the World Trade Center deserved their fate, while at Harvard, Larry Summers is demonized for daring to suggest there may be differences between men and women.?