Diary of a Disturbing Influence

Cedarville University, never the greatest fan of academic freedom, has finally shut the door on its student newspaper. CU’s Public Relations department had censored the paper for about a semester in order to limit controversial content, but apparently those censors were not conservative enough for CU.

I take a certain amount of pride in knowing that my articles annoyed the trustees of Cedarville University. It means I did my job. I made people think, and the people who refused to think simply got angry as they always do. I didn’t think it was possible for my opinion of Cedarville to drop, but it has. News flash, CU: Censorship is not ok. You don’t have the right to tell people what to say unless they are participating in hate speech. You are not my babysitter. You are not my parent. You are not my pastor or my counselor or my conscience. Your job is to educate me, and you have failed this job miserably.

I feel that I’ve wasted tens of thousands of dollars on this school. CU specializes in brainwashing, not education. It’s also difficult not to see this as a personal attack. I’m aware that my articles only contributed to the problem; they did not create the problem. The world does not revolve around me and My Edgy Feminist Style. But I do think I’ve been misunderstood, and that no one’s bothered to correct the misunderstanding. Why is it so terrible to identify oneself as a feminist? Feminism is not so radical as people seem to think. Feminism is about equal respect and equal opportunities–no more and no less.

I don’t want to go down in history as that liberal feminist girl. Who would? I don’t want to be defined by my politics or my ideology, and yet because I am outspoken, that’s the label that CU’s administration and student body has pinned to me. It makes me easier to understand. I’m a known quantity and I’m that much easier to dismiss.

And they did. They dismissed me, and my friends, and all the work we put into the student newspaper. That’s not all right. And we won’t be quiet about it. I invite you to visit the following two sites: http://chronicle.com/temp/email2.php?id=ydzqSHptgsHpmY9qRdCgCfjxVnfGrShq and http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2009/04/cedarville_stud.html for more info on Cedarville’s latest Epic Fail.