Liberty University, a private, Baptist, evangelical Christian, liberal arts university located in Lynchburg, Virginia, sent a letter to the president of the school’s College Democrats informing the group that they would no longer be recognized as a school club, are prohibited from using the school name in it’s title and ads, and forbidden to meet on campus.

The group had been officially recognized this past October, but is having that recognition pulled due to the Democratic National Committees positions on issues that are contrary to the school’s values, even though members the Liberty University College Democrats were Christians and supported more conservative social policy.

It’s reported that they were told that it was inconsistent to be a Christian and a Democrat.

A local conservative blog defends the school’s action, arguing that it’s okay to target Democrats at schools like Liberty because most institutions of higher education are liberal, and that Democrats shouldn’t whine when members of their party are persecuted at the minority of schools that are conservative.

That argument, of course, is rubbish. School’s within the United States should allow students to practice their freedom to peacefully assemble. If they don’t want to recognize the College Democrats as being a university club for perceived violation of their holier-than-thou-sanctimonious-dogmatic values, they should at least allow them to meet on campus. After all, they are  paying dearly for the *privilege* to attend the school and be officially berated.

What ever happened to going to college for the purpose of leaning and experiencing new things? Does Liberty University truly feel that squashing any recognition that there are indeed Democrats attending their school will help their students toward this goal? Why not take a sharpie to textbooks and censure anything that would make students think outside the box they’ve likely lived in their whole lives? Hey Liberty, if something makes your students think, question, and wonder, it’s a good thing. Discussion and debate strengthens students, and makes them stronger people. Censorship weakens your students, and invalidates their credentials; I don’t care how many years they attended and what grade they got in Biblical History.

By the way, I’m very impressed with Terry McAuliffe for jumping to stand with the students being targeted. You can check out the audio from a conference call with the press, students, and Terry here.

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