On Meet The Press, Ben Carson delivers a tall tale to explain why he would regulate liberal “extremism” on campus.
As president, Ben Carson will repurpose the U.S. Department of Education to police university campuses for liberal extremism.
After accusing colleges and universities of indoctrinating students with liberal ideas, Carson told conservative talk radio show host Dana Loesch last week he would “solicit examples of extreme bias and I would use those as the basis for helping to determine which places need to have their federal funding cut.”
Right Wing Watch reports Carson explained to Loesch “he would have ‘very strict guidelines’ that would ensure that his plan wouldn’t hurt conservatives.”
On Loesch’s show, as he had done earlier that week on Glenn Beck’s show, Carson delivered a false account of a student he claimed was “disciplined” for refusing to follow a college professor’s instructions to students to take out a piece of paper, write the word ‘Jesus’ on it, put it on the ground and then stomp on it.
On Sunday, Carson was interviewed on Meet The Press.Â
He told the same tale to host Chuck Todd, but claimed that student was “disciplined, severely.”
Of course, like many on Dr. Carson’s claims, this is a false telling.
What really happened?
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In 2013 Ryan Rotela, a Florida Atlantic University student who is Mormon, as part of his Intercultural Communication class was indeed told to write Jesus on a piece of paper and stomp on it. The instructions are a 30-year old lesson in a college textbook used by his professor, Deandre Poole, who happens to be a Sunday School teacher and reportedly very religious. The lesson was to see how people react when cultural symbols are challenged.
The student refused, but was not suspended for refusing.
Here’s the part Dr. Carson conveniently leaves out.
Florida Atlantic University’s own newspaper reports that after “Rotela refused to step, [he] allegedly told Poole he ‘wanted to hit him,’ and was suspended.” The University Press in that same article reports that “Rotela was not suspended,” but was charged “with violating Regulation 4.007 of the Code of Student Conduct, specifically, Section 5 Letter N: (n) ‘Acts of verbal, written (including electronic communications or internet activity) or physical abuse, threats, intimidation, harassment, coercion, or other conduct which threaten the health, safety or welfare of any person.'”
After Professor Poole received death threats and hate mail, he was placed on administrative leave for his own safety.
Ben Carson would like to use a federal agency to police college campuses for extreme liberal bias, then withhold federal funds from these institutions of higher learning – public and private – but insists there are no First Amendment violations associated with this big government action.
And this man thinks he is qualified to be President.
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Image: Screenshot via NBC News