They said it was only about “Confederate” generals.
But it was always really about rewriting history.
The University of Virginia was just called out for erasing centuries of U.S. history calling it “untruthful and misleading.”
Today’s college campuses and universities are nothing more than leftist and socialist indoctrination camps.
Expensive ones to be sure!
And the free expression of ideas and opinions is no longer tolerated by the Marxists and radicals who are in charge.
And don’t think it’s just the professors and administrators who are shutting down free speech and free expression.
Student governments, student publications, and alumni groups are just as much of the problem these days.
Take this recent example of ‘woke’ political correctness from the University of Virginia (UVA).
UVA was founded by Founding Father and President Thomas Jefferson who considered the founding of UVA as one of his top achievements.
In fact, before his death in reference to his gravestone Jefferson said, “On the faces of the Obelisk the following inscription, & not a word more. Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia.”
That is how important he viewed his founding of the University.
But today students at Mr. Jefferson’s Academical Village don’t view him with such honor.
Here is an ad a group called the Jefferson Council submitted to run in the University of Virginia Alumni Society magazine.
A pretty straightforward, factual ad about one of America’s Founding Father’s one of our greatest President’s, the author of the Declaration of Independence, an Ambassador to France, the man who abolished the slave trade, and of course founded UVA.
And those are just some of the highlights.
But the “geniuses” who run the alumni cabal rejected the ad.
They clearly believe that Jefferson deserves to be remembered in history as nothing more than a slave-holding rapist.
Never mind the facts of course. Because to the radical left and history erasers, facts don’t matter.
You might think the association representing the alumni of the university that Jefferson founded would publish a paid ad defending his reputation. You would be wrong.
Jefferson Council Treasurer Tom Neale submitted the ad to Virginia Editor Richard Gard for insertion in an issue of the alumni magazine. Here is Gard’s response:
“We’ve reviewed the Jefferson Council’s proposed ad for our summer-fall issue and, unfortunately, must reject it as inconsistent with our advertising standards. As you know, our policy reserves us publisher’s discretion to do so for advertising content that’s potentially ‘political or contentious, untruthful or misleading,’ among other conditions.”
Jefferson Council President (and newly appointed member of the UVA Board of Visitors) Bert Ellis appealed the decision to alumni association President Lilly West. Here is her response:
“Congratulations on your appointment to the BOV. Richard consulted me before responding to Tom. As he said, you can edit this ad or we can run the previous version. Let us know what you decide.”
Notice that neither West nor Gard provided any advice on what, precisely, needed editing, nor did either say why they were rejecting the ad.
Needless to say, Ellis was not amused.
“This is the Founder of UVA. We are defending him. Obviously you have no desire to do so. What is wrong with you people? If this ad causes people to think, so be it. We would welcome a full-on debate about Mr. Jefferson,” Ellis stated.
And there you have the crux of the issue, the main problem to the left there is no room for debate. No room for discussion.
They know they do not have facts, science, or history on their side. So they just make the claim that the very act of questioning their view of the world and history is “political,” “contentious” or even “untruthful.”
Jefferson wrote in a letter to Lewis Shepherd in 1820, “This institution [the University of Virginia] will be based upon the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.”
What irony.
One has to wonder if Jefferson would still want his Obelisk to read that way today.
Stay tuned to Right News Wire for any updates to this ongoing story.
