At the intersection of religion and free speech: Liberty University and the College Democrats

There's an interesting juxtaposition in national and local (northwest Florida, a/k/a America's Taint™) news this morning with regard to the First Amendment. While the Amendment's text guarantees freedom of and from religious expression and freedom of speech, the two aren't always synchronous. And two news stories are bearing that out today.

The first* comes from Lynchburg, Va., where Liberty Zombie Jerry Falwell University has denied its College Democrats club the right to exist.

Officials at the private Lynchburg school, which was founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, said they made the decision after receiving complaints from trustees, parents and donors.

"They really are great kids and good friends of mine," said Jerry Falwell Jr., who became the school's chancellor after his father died in 2007. "It's just an issue of what Liberty's mission is."

[...]

Diaz was informed in a May 15 e-mail from Student Affairs Vice President Mark Hine that the club, which has about 30 members, will no longer be able to use Liberty's name or be eligible for funding because of the party's stand on abortion rights and gay rights issues.

Mathew D. Staver, dean of the university's school of law, said Liberty recently came up with new guidelines for all student groups. On May 15, a campuswide review began. The recognition of only the Democratic club has been revoked. Staver said the students can continue to meet in certain locations on campus, and school officials have encouraged them to find a parent organization that supports a "pro-life, pro-family" platform.

Maria Childress, the club's adviser and an administrative assistant at the school, said she is trying to appeal the decision to Falwell.

Katie Naranjo, president of the College Democrats of America, said, "It's astonishing that in the 21st century an institution for higher education would demand a student group be thrown off campus for their political views."

First of all ... Mathew Staver ... I've heard that name before ...

Right! Staver is representing the woman who wants to uphold Florida's ban on same-sex adoptions. And he got smacked down by a state appeals court last week. Poor guy. But at least he's consistent in his bigotry.

Anyway, granted, Liberty is a private institution, and as such they pretty much can do what they want (although, since they accept federal funds for financial aid, they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, gender, etc., unless they disavow that funding like Hillsdale College has done). And, frankly, students who go to Liberty have to expect that if they are Democrats or have non-conservative political beliefs, they might not be in a friendly environment. But still, this is different than, say, outlawing dancing at Bob Jones University or even the anachronistic rules at Pensacola Christian College. This is direct censorship of opinion. Yet, because it's a private entity, it may very well be legal.

But it certainly doesn't bode well for receiving an even nominally well-rounded education at Liberty University. Ironic, given Chancellor Falwell's statement last fall: "My father always said you can disagree without being disagreeable, and that’s the message we’re trying to teach these kids [...] We’re all part of the same LU community." That's a pretty intolerant community, eh, Chancellor? I mean, even an official of the LU College Republicans acknowledged the benefits of having a College Democrats chapter there, when she said in April:

“You can’t have College Republicans debating each other,” [College Republicans Public Relations Director Melinda] Zosh said. “Now we can have an open forum where the College Republicans and the College Democrats can debate the issues.”

Zosh thinks it is important to have both a College Republicans and a College Democrats on any academic university.

“I think it’s great for students to have opportunities to explore different viewpoints,” Zosh said. “Having this kind of forum will help prepare students for the world they will go into after they graduate.”

Which brings us back to Liberty's mission. Recall that Chancellor Falwell said that the decision to force the College Democrats to disband is "just an issue of what Liberty's mission is." So, what is that Mission?

To develop Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact tomorrow’s world. The mission is carried out for resident students through a rigorous academic program and structured social environment. It is carried out for external students in a comparable academic program but without the structure of the resident community.

Are they now saying Democrats can't be Christians? Or that Christians can't be Democrats? (They'd probably agree with the latter, actually ...) Is it really possible to imbue the "values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact tomorrow's world" by exposing students to only one ideological perspective? Perhaps that's what LU wants to do, but I don't think that strictly follows the letter of the Mission.

Let's drill down further, to the Aims by which the university seeks to accomplish its mission. (Note how they number the introductory phrase. Remedial outlining, anyone?)

1. In support of its Philosophy and Mission, Liberty University seeks to develop the whole person by providing its students with intellectual and cultural pursuits that:
2. Contribute to a knowledge and understanding of other cultures and of international events.
3. Promote an understanding of the Western tradition and the diverse elements of American cultural history, especially the importance of the individual in maintaining democratic and free market processes.

[...]

6. Convey the different ways of acquiring knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
7. Enable them to engage in a major field of study built on a solid foundation in the liberal arts.
8. Explore the moral dimensions and ethical implications in the disciplines offered by the University.

[...]

11. Cultivate a sensitivity to the needs of others and a commitment to the betterment of humanity.

I'm not going to comment on the irony of a radically rightist university desiring to "cultivate a sensitivity to the needs of others ..." (and yeah, I see the bit about "free market" in there to appease the Randians), but there is a lot of language in those Aims about diversity and exposing students to different viewpoints. Thus, it seems misguided, even hypocritical, for Falwell to cite the university's Mission as the reason for this kind of viewpoint discrimination, this blatant violation of academic freedom.

Finally, you shouldn't miss what I think is the ultimate driving force in this decision. As quoted above, the university experienced pressure from "trustees, parents, and donors." Oftentimes, those categories overlap, and I assure you as a longtime university fund raiser myself, if the institution gets a lot of complaints from donors and threats to withhold future gifts, that has a powerful effect on the institution's decisionmaking process. I believe that's exactly what's happened here, and as a result, Liberty's students, liberal and conservative alike, are going to be deprived of a big part of the educational diversity the university's own Mission promises.

---

* I'll post on the second, local story later this afternoon. Related post is now available.

Rewarding bad behavior

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Weston) is a loyal, hard-working Democrat who co-chaired the "Red to Blue" effort for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) this past year ... well, she's loyal and hard-working so long as you don't ask her to campaign against her Republican friends. In that case, she suddenly comes up with excuses on why she can't help Democratic candidates -- even though that's her job, and even though she helped Democratic candidates in many other districts, including right here in Florida.

So what are the consequences for failing to do your job in the DCCC? Evidently, you get promoted:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) will again help run the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), focusing this cycle on House Democrats facing tough reelection battles.

DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) on Monday named Wasserman Schultz the vice chairwoman for incumbent retention.

"It is so important that we assist our incumbent Members with the money, messaging and outreach they will need to get reelected in the 2010 election cycle," she said in a statement.

Okay, look: I like Rep. Wasserman Schultz. I think she's a good representative of her district and a good member of Congress. But I think when push comes to shove, she's clearly demonstrated that she is not able to set aside personal feelings in order to do her job. And that, to me, indicates that far from being promoted, she probably shouldn't have any meaningful role in the DCCC whatsoever.

Obviously Rep. Van Hollen feels differently. And I hope that for the sake of the incumbents she supposedly will be assisting in the next election cycle, Rep. Wasserman Schultz doesn't have any Republican friends challenging them for their seats.

A nice problem to have

Amidst all the buffoonery that characterizes elections in Palm Beach County, there's good election-related news, too: the state Division of Elections is getting so many applications for newly registered voters, they are asking counties to help them manage them all.

The state is being swamped by third-party groups gathering applications, such as the National Rifle Association and even Barack Obama's campaign, which aims to register 500,000 new voters before Oct. 6.

State officials say they have a backlog of 32,000 applications - including 25,000 received on Tuesday alone - awaiting entry, Palmer wrote. They've processed 30,308 since June. And they don't know how many more they'll get before Oct. 6.

Despite hiring 25 temporary employees working 12- to 16-hour shifts, the division can't keep up, Palmer wrote, and will need to send the applications back to local officials for data entry and scanning.

State officials say they are still able to verify the voter's identification after the forms are entered under the "no match, no vote" law implemented two weeks ago. The law requires that a voter's Social Security or driver license number match federal or state databases.

"They haven't properly planned for the voter registration applications. That was perfectly foreseeable. ... I didn't plan on doing the work of the Division of Elections in 2008," said Leon County Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho.

[...]

The volume of applications raises the specter that all of the new applications may not be entered into the system by the Oct. 19 deadline, the day before early voting begins.

"That's not going to happen. Either we will get it done, or they (the counties) will get it done," Department of State spokeswoman Jennifer Krell Davis said.

If voters show up on Election Day or for early voting and they are not on the rolls, they will have to cast a provisional ballot. But provisional ballots have a much higher chance of being tossed out, according to elections experts.

The Washington-based Advancement Project released a report Wednesday outlining problems with provisional ballots. Of the 14,550 provisional ballots cast in Florida's 2006 general election, 3,857, or nearly 27 percent, were rejected, the report found.

Yes, the risk of many provisional ballots being cast remains high and, given the Florida GOP's attempts to disenfranchise as many voters as possible, we still might face problems on November 4.

However, the vast majority of the new voters are Democrats, and that bodes extremely well for our hopes of kicking the rat-bastard Republicans out on their asses -- a fate they so richly deserve.

So, here's to more whining from the poor, overworked Division of Elections. You may need help with registrations, but the country needs help to overcome the problems the Republicans have created in recent years.

In Florida, Dems now outnumber Repubs among Hispanic voters

Looks like yet another group that has been a stalwart for the GOP has come to its senses, in the wake of the Worst President Ever. Hispanic voters in Florida now are mostly Democrats:

In 2006, Hispanics registered as Republicans in Florida outnumbered Democrats by 45,000, stoked by an overwhelming advantage in the conservative South Florida Cuban community.

But according to the latest figures from the Florida Division of Elections, Democrats now lead by almost 30,000 voters: 454,798 to 424,866. That represents a turnaround of 75,000 voters in less than two years.

In Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, where Democrats already had an advantage over the GOP among Latino registered voters, the party has increased its margins as Nov. 4 approaches. Democrats are crowing about it.

"Hispanics are like other voters in this country, and they want change," said Mike Rios, head of the Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce in Palm Beach County and a Democratic Party organizer.

"They want to stop the war in Iraq, bring down gas prices, create jobs and provide health insurance. And for all that, the Democrats and Barack Obama have the best platform."

Rios said the large increase in registered Democrats is due in part to new, young Latino voters, who tend to be more liberal. He also said many Puerto Ricans, some from the Northeast and others who have fled the Caribbean island's economic problems, have moved to Florida. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and, traditionally, Democratic voters.

Florida also has seen a sizable spike in Colombians who have become citizens, and many have registered as Democrats, Rios added.

"We've also had some Cubans register Democrat," he said in a mild dig in the ribs to his Republican rivals.

Sid Dinerstein, Palm Beach County's GOP chairman, and other Republican activists don't see those registration numbers determining the November vote.

No, of course you wouldn't, Sid. That's because you're willfully ignorant to the fact that America is sick and tired of the political games, the lies, the death and destruction, and the profiteering enabled -- and conducted -- by your party over the last eight -- well, really more like the last 15 years. If I were a Republican, I'd kill myself realize that maybe the problem is that America wants change -- and I'd look at ways to change the party platform from something that depends on allegiance to a failed, corrupt presidency and a failed, corrupt ideology into something that more closely resembles what the Republican Party claims to support: a smaller federal government and other hallmarks of traditional conservatism.

Looks like Hispanic voters in Florida, like everyone else, are discovering that real change comes not from the empty rhetoric of the Right (Huggy Bear claims to be the candidate of change? The guy who hugged Drunky McStagger and who has voted with him in increasing percentages up to the present-day 95% of the time? It's laughable, really ...) but from, well, real change -- as in electing Barack Obama president and making sure Democrats have a mandate in down-ticket races as well.

The Hispanic vote in Florida, as usual, is likely to make a significant difference at the polls in November. But this time, no matter how much Sid Dinerstein and his pals clap their hands and wish it away, that difference will benefit the Democrats.

(h/t Palm Beach Post via Twitter -- had I not been on the road yesterday, I would have posted this when I received the heads-up, but thanks, PBP!)

(cross-posted at FPC Blog)

Catching up: photo goodness from the first two days of Denver

It's taken me so long because I have been so focused on things happening RIGHT NOW, but I think I can get some pictures up now before I head to the Trojan Condom-sponsored event featuring Bill Maher, an event I've affectionately nicknamed the "Condom-Nation."

Multiple choice: Denver International Airport (pictured) looks like:
a. A lemon meringue pie
b. That funky building in Vancouver, B.C.
c. A ship
d. Someone's deranged idea of cutting-edge architecture

Coors Field, Rockies vs. Reds. Nice ballpark, gorgeous day.

Denver skyline from Coors Field.

Denver's iconic Union Station, which MSNBC is using as the backdrop for KO and Tweety.

Inside the Big Tent on Sunday afternoon ... I thought it would be bigger. (If I had an nickel for every time I've heard that ...)

Invesco Field ... sorry -- "Invesco Field at Mile High" -- home of Thursday night's DNC festivities (and the Denver Broncos).

Delegate reception Sunday night at the Colorado Convention Center (CCC).

The College Democrats convention, in the Wells Fargo Theatre of the CCC.

Protestor outside the CCC: sign reads "A Vote for Obama Is A Vote for Dead Children." I disagree, of course, but don't forget that a vote for Huggy Bear is a vote for more dead soldiers. (Trust me, you didn't want to see the right side of the poster.)

Sunday night outside the CCC. More police than protestors, probably by a ratio of three to one.

Nighttime in Larimer Square, downtown Denver.

Okay, I've gotta go ... more pictures (from today) later tonight or in the morning. And, yes, those pictures will be more political in nature. Probably.

In the College Democrats meeting

I came down to the convention center to cover the delegate reception, but other than taking a couple of pictures, it didn't really move me very much.

But I overheard some folks saying that Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick was going to be speaking, so I followed the crowd ... and ended up in a comedy club.

Oh, wait, it's not a comedy club -- it's the College Democrats of America convention.

Right now on stage: Lee Camp, best known for going on Fox News and calling the network "a festival of ignorance." Actually, he's quite funny. He was slamming on Huggy Bear for opposing -- right up into the '90s -- a holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. "McCain said that because he was in Vietnam at the time, he didn't realize how much good Martin Luther King had done," said Camp. "I wasn't even alive at the time ... and I knew how much good Martin Luther King had done!"

Still waiting for Gov. Patrick ... I'm thinking the elderly senator (perhaps a state senator) who came down here might be a little nonplussed ...

UPDATE (10:16 pm 8/24/08): Now it's the deputy director of the GLBT caucus, or something like that. Young guy. He was telling the students here that he's only a few years out of college, even though he doesn't look like it: "it's because politics just makes you look 42."

I'm 42.

UPDATE (10:23 pm 8/24/08): The volunteer who escorted me back to the reception area was telling me that there were protests around here (the Colorado Convention Center) earlier today, and they had to close some streets in the area because of it. I think I'll hang out around here some tomorrow. I don't know what today's protests were about, though ...

UPDATE (10:26 pm 8/24/08): They just brought a poet onstage. I'm out. I need a drink.

No offense to poets.

BTW, all times on these posts are Eastern ... but it's only 8:26 here. More drinking time.