Tyranny of the University

While it is bad enough that Universities are overwhelmingly employing liberal professors and running 4 year boot camp for political correctness along with quashing free speech of students, now we are going to see the elimination of private property for college students.

As this article from CNN points out, there is a move afoot at Colgate University to crack down on the greek system by prohibiting private owned fraternity houses around campus. Essentially, the school is saying that students of the university must live in university housing.

There are a couple of issues I have with this:

First, a fraternity or fraternity chapter that is incorporate can own property--that is one of the rights of a corporation. The University is not the state and therefore cannot exercise the power of emminent domain. Even the the school was a public univesity, student housing policy is not grounds for emminent domain. By ordering fraternities and sororities to sell their houses to the school, the school is acting without justification.

Second, while it is true that a school does not have to recognize a student organization--their right--the school cannot force the surrender of private property by holding recognition over their heads.

Third, if the school is so worried about the activities of it students off campus, they should work more closely with the local law enforcement offices. Surely incidents involving hazing, alcohol and sexual abuse are crimes in New York and thus the purview of the police.

So here is a question, is the school going to prohibit any student from living in non-university housing. I remember going back to college after having served in the Navy and if the school told me, a 24 year person that my only option was to live in university owned housing, I would have taken my tuition money elsewhere.

Will students be able to live in private homes? What if a student is a local, say the son or daughter of a local businessman, can that student live at home to save money? Chances are yes. So what we have here is essentially university sponsored discrimination--"we don't like the way you live and where you live so you have to live where we tell you."

Just another freedom taken from univeristy students.



CNN.com - Colgate University buying Greek houses - Apr 12, 2005