Adam Hoffman, a Princeton University senior, appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” Friday to comment on his op-ed at The New York Times where he asserts that as college campuses lurch to the left, they are spawning a new generation of conservatives.
(Video Credit: Fox News)
The “unintended consequences” of the radicalized environment at leftist universities were pointed out by Fox News host Laura Ingraham who noted it is pushing students to the right.
She asked Hoffman about the firestorm surrounding his column at the New York Times. Leftists are livid over it. One writer cited by Ingraham claimed that Hoffman’s description of college campuses has “straight-up never been true.”
“Is there real free thought and free expression left at Princeton?” she asked the Ivy League senior who is being viciously attacked by so-called intellectual elitists.
“I wrote this piece precisely because I don’t think so. I disagree with that writer,” Hoffman replied.
“I’m a senior now, and through my four years, I’ve served in leadership for a number of conservative organizations on-campus, from College Republicans to the Princeton Tory, our conservative journal, and I’ve observed this trend that I identified in the article where apolitical students are becoming politicized and moved to the right,” he recounted.
Hoffman pointed out that students who come to Princeton that are already ideologically center-right or conservative become even more so.
“This is a trend that I’ve seen accelerate just in the past year-and-a-half,” he continued.
Ingraham recalled that in the wake of the Carter administration, a “new generation of young Reaganites” formed on Princeton’s campus to rebut the extreme leftism of the 1970s. History seems to be repeating itself.
“That’s when I was in college, and I wondered whether this would ultimately happen on the college campuses in this country because when you go so far left — shut down so much speech, play this game of micro-aggressions — first of all, it’s no fun,” she contended. “They are the most puritanical, and I’m glad you use that word — ‘puritanical.'”
It’s absolutely true that overly politically correct and policed campuses are pushing students to the right. And the fact that the far left screams murder everytime the left leaning NYT publishes any conservative opinion is as concerning as it is unproductive.
— Milo Young (@myhumbleopinio6) March 1, 2023
Hoffman was in total agreement with Ingraham, noting that the 20th Century campus was “skewed liberal,” and that conservatives spoke their opinion and then were “shut down” afterward. That’s in contrast to the paradigm of centrist and conservative speech being canceled and censored before the fact that is happening currently.
“There’s not just a liberal bias, but I think conservatives are being excluded,” he charged. “You can’t even voice that opinion. You’re shut down before you even utter an argument.”
“Conservatives can’t get funding for the events on campus like progressive students… can. I think this is just part of a broader trend that we’re seeing on the left, and it is leaving effects on the right,” Hoffman remarked.
“Today’s campus conservatives embrace a less moderate, complacent and institutional approach to politics. Instead of belief in the status quo, many tend toward scorched-earth politics. But these changes aren’t solely the consequence of a fractured national politics,” he wrote in the New York Times.
“They’re also the result of puritanically progressive campuses that alienate conservative students from their liberal peers and college as a whole. The distrust of authority, the protest and the disobedience that have characterized the left’s activism over the past half-century or so have arrived on the right. The American universities that once served as moderating finishing schools have become breeding grounds for conservative firebrands,” he added.
He went on to elaborate on what it means to be a conservative on college campuses currently.
“For those on the right, the experience is alienating. The typical American’s views on gender ideology or American history are often irrelevant to his or her day-to-day life. But for the conservative college student, life is punctuated by political checkpoints. Classes may begin with requests for ‘preferred pronouns’ or ‘land acknowledgments.’ A student who jokes about the wrong subject might face social punishment. All students should welcome challenges to their most cherished beliefs, but from what I’ve seen on campus, students are not invited to debate; they are expected to conform,” Hoffman stated.
“And those who challenge liberal pieties can face real repercussions. Because a Princeton student defended an unpopular opinion about policing in a private conversation, she was pushed out of her leadership position on a sports team. At Stanford, students who experience ‘harm’ because of ‘who they are and how they show up in the world’ can anonymously report classmates to the university, a policy that some faculty members say threatens free speech,” he concluded.
Get the latest BPR news delivered free to your inbox daily. SIGN UP HERE
DONATE TO AMERICAN WIRE
If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to American Wire News to help us fight them.
- Leftist tears flow over 60 Minutes interview with MTG: ‘Reminds me of a guy we defeated in the 1940s’ - April 1, 2023
- Rachel Campos-Duffy reveals how she found true love in a hookup-obsessed world - April 1, 2023
- Dennis Quaid documentary exposes the often overlooked dangers of electric grid failure - April 1, 2023
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.