Higher Ed | Daily Report

IISG/FlickrCampusreform.org criticizes UC Santa Cruz for 'boasting' leftist professor emeritus Angela Davis.

Campusreform.org says it was created “to give conservatives powerful new weapons in their fight for the hearts and minds” of American college students.

The group is spending the summer deconstructing, from bottom to top, U.S. News & World Report’s annual list of the top 100 universities in the country.

The result is a political conservative’s guide to colleges that, perhaps predictably, portrays American academia as a vast liberal wasteland. So far, the group has rolled out the bottom two-thirds of its list. When it comes to California campuses, the group has an upbeat view of Malibu’s Pepperdine University, while the second-tier UCs are portrayed in terms that would make a Republican’s blood boil. Below are excerpts. California Watch will circle back when the website gets around to rating Cal, Stanford and UCLA.

37. UC San Diego

The presence of the Che Cafe, a vegan dining area for left-wing radical activists, says quite enough about which political group controls much of the discussion on campus … liberal student publications (include) Voz Fronteriza which once called for the assassination of U.S. Border Patrol personnel. … Far-left professors supported left-wing student groups that called for censorship during UCSD's spring quarter media freeze controversy. After a humor magazine published an offensive racial joke … the UCSD Black Student Union gave the university administration a list of 33 demands … (including) segregated "safe spaces" on campus for black students.

43. UC Davis

Of the political groups on campus, 13 are left-leaning (including) Queer People of Color Collective (and) Students for Sustainable Agriculture … 98% of all political donations by faculty and staff went to Democrats. … Diversity Trainers Institute (courses include) Unpacking Oppression (and) … Communication Across Gender in the Workplace. … Sustainability courses in the curriculum … often amount to simple environmental indoctrination.

44. UC Santa Barbara

Students should take note of the clever fusion of left-wing politics with ethnic identity groups … (campus has) a substantial history as a center of left-wing Latino activism. … Chicano and Latino organizations on the left (include) MUJER, a feminist "womyn's" group. … After Arizona passed its new immigration law, one professor was arrested for blocking traffic outside Santa Barbara's municipal offices while demonstrating with students. … In spring 2009, (a professor) sent an e-mail to students … comparing the Nazi treatment of Jews with Israel's actions towards Palestinians.

46. UC Irvine

Noted for many heated exchanges between activists devoted to the Israeli-Palestine conflict … the left is the dominant political force on the campus … university faculty and employees are overwhelmingly supportive of Democrats. Radical, Islamist speakers brought to campus (included) an imam who unrepentantly supports terrorist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

58. Pepperdine University

Affiliated with the Churches of Christ. … Instead of organizations for international socialism, there are clubs for international aid efforts … conservatives on the faculty (include) Bruce Herschensohn, Arthur Laffer, and Ben Stein. … Engaging in or promoting conduct or lifestyles inconsistent with biblical teaching is not permitted.

77. UC Santa Cruz

Decidedly left-wing … only 8 percent of UCSC students described themselves as conservative … leftist student organizations (include) … Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán; Muslim Student Alliance; … Queer Geeks; … Students for Barack Obama. … UCSC faculty and staff who contributed to campaigns gave money solely to Democratic candidates. … UCSC also "boasts" Professor Emirita Angela Davis, the two-time Communist Party vice presidential candidate, and past defendant in a high-profile murder trial. … Students were not issued letter grades for their academic performance … until 2001.

99. UC Riverside

Subject to all of the institutionalization of leftist ideas … including specialized centers for specific student ethnic and gender groups … was the first school in the system to offer a minor in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersexual and Transgender Studies. … College administrators … have argued that conservative views are inherently "negative" or "belittling." … UCR does not offer ROTC programs on campus. … Illegal immigrants may also receive in-state tuition – and a taxpayer-subsidized education.