The Wake

In the 1960s, student demonstrations for free speech erupted at the University of California at Berkeley, attracting national attention and cementing the movement’s reputation as a landmark in the history of civil disobedience and student protest. Since then, American universities like Berkeley have been seen as hotbeds of activism, “marketplaces of ideas” where multiple voices can be heard.

But Indoctrinate U, an independent documentary that played last month at Oak St. Cinema as part of a series of screenings around the country, aims to unseat this image of the freethinking American college. The film claims that the liberal ideology behind the free speech movement has become so prevalent on campuses that it has begun to directly inhibit opposition (i.e. while openly defending free speech, administrators and professors will work to silence messages that go against their politics).

Indoctrinate U presents a series of cases of college conservatives targeted for their opinions, harassed by other students and professors and silenced by university administrations. The film is peppered with writer/director Evan Coyne Maloney’s own confrontations with close-mouthed campus officials which often culminate in his removal from the premises.

While it’s hard to say whether the extreme examples the film cites are isolated incidents or indicative of a sinister national trend, the film effectively uses statistics to justify its rhetoric. Multiple studies conducted over the last several years have indicated that the vast majority of university faculty consider themselves to be liberal and the high value often placed on diversity and political correctness is impossible to refute. The film’s slanted nature and confrontational rhetoric make these figures a bit hard to swallow, though.

Regardless of its accuracy, Indoctrinate U asks some very important questions; namely, what’s the value of political correctness? While political correctness is helpful when addressing prejudiced language and common stereotypes, it can become counterproductive when taken too far. It is all too common these days to see struggles for social justice get bogged down in forced diversity and semantic quibbling. One of the professors interviewed has a point when he demands, “Who cares if you’re offended? Why is that against the law now, to offend someone?” Simply put, we should be able to respectfully and honestly discuss important issues without tiptoeing around everyone’s feelings.

Unfortunately, the film has a dangerous tendency to demonize the left. Maloney himself claims he is not a conservative, but his film has quickly been embraced by right-wing commentators who use it to paint themselves as victims of a purposefully repressive system. Conservative publications have depicted a kind of noble struggle for recognition and freedom on campuses, a goal that seems to have more to do with advancing their own agenda than with promoting a forum for equal exchange of ideas.

Mario Savio, major spokesperson of the Berkeley protests, once said, “To me, freedom of speech…represents the very dignity of what a human being is.” For college to be a place where students learn to open their minds as well as their textbooks, where they become as skilled at evaluating ideas as they do at beer pong, both ends of the political spectrum must be willing to let the other be heard. Indoctrinate U might not fully embody that ideal, but it is an interesting first step in igniting a national debate on the definition and importance of actual free speech.