Federico Sanchez: Right wing groups invade campus

If I told you that there is a multimillion dollar scheme financed by far-right groups and individuals to infiltrate university campuses in America with their ultra-conservative agenda -- and that Penn has been and continues to be one of this operation's targets -- you might smile incredulously and shrug it off as a product of my wild imagination.

After all, you might argue, Brother Stephen's fanatical chants on College Green are annoying and even funny in a freakish way, but they certainly don't seem to be backed by an extended, well-funded organization.

Think again. Brother Steve might indeed be a one man show, but his ultra-conservative propaganda -- which advocates outlawing abortion, refusing gay and lesbian Americans equal rights and undermining the separation of church and state -- is shared by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and the Young America's Foundation (YAF). These two powerful political organizations' sole purpose is to indoctrinate American college students with the philosophy of the extreme right.

In a pathetic attempt at window dressing, these groups try to fashion themselves as advocates of "Judeo-Christian moral standards" and as defenders of "freedom.and traditional values" in their mission statements.

However, a quick look at YAF's list of allied organizations reveals such far-right powerhouses as Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition and the Family Research Council.

These two groups have also developed sleek structures to wrap their far-right propaganda in neutral packaging in the hope that unsuspecting college students will be more open to their radical ideology if it's camouflaged. ISI has chosen to mask its propaganda through an immense network of ISI-financed phony student newspapers on campuses across America.

As a result of this underground strategy, it should come as no surprise that you've never heard about ISI or YAF, and it's unlikely that you will ever stumble upon a newspaper or activity openly sponsored by either organization. Through an 800 hotline and "campus mentoring sessions" run by "program officers," ISI makes sure that its student writers across the nation remain true to the organization's conservative message.

Penn has not been spared by the ISI's phony newspaper campaign. The Red and Blue, a widely distributed student magazine, is sponsored by the Collegiate Network, the self-proclaimed "home of college conservative journalism." The Collegiate Network is a program administered by the ISI, and it also sponsors publications at Cornell, Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale.

In their attempt to saturate college campuses with right-wing propaganda, the YAF and ISI also sponsor lectures by conservative notables, such as Pat Buchanan, David Horowitz and former Christian Coalition director Ralph Reed. In addition, ISI provides its student activists with an online "Guide to Successful Lectures." This guide encourages organizers to plant other ISI advocates in the audience so that they can shout down any protest that might arise.

So much for free speech.

However, ISI and YAF are not content to merely quash freedom of speech. They also have a knack for doggedly seeking to curtail the academic freedom of university students and faculty in an attempt to advance their bigoted agenda.

Through its annual report entitled "Comedy and Tragedy," YAF seeks to shame colleges into dropping those courses it deems "bizarre" and "ridiculous." Harvard University's "Feminist Biblical Interpretation" course and gay and lesbian literature classes at Brown and Syracuse universities are some of those academic options that YAF would like to see eliminated. Maybe YAF would like to replace them with "Scrapping Academic Freedom: The Benefits of Stalinist-Style Censorship by Radical Right Groups."

Empowered with a combined annual budget reported by Salon.com to be more than $10 million, ISI and YAF have no problem attracting new members while maintaining the unflinching loyalty of those they already have. Just recently, the ISI flew twenty of its most devoted members to England for a one week tour of Oxford, London, and Stratford-upon-Avon -- all expenses paid. For its part, YAF encourages its members to join the Club 100, lauded as "the conservative movement's first and only campus activist rewards program."

And just what are those rewards?

Once a member accumulates 100 points by "promot[ing] conservative ideas to your fellow students," he will be invited to attend a "one-of-a-kind event at the Reagan Ranch in April 2002!"

Beware next time you hear someone arguing passionately in favor of banning a "bizarre" course at Penn. He might just be collecting points in his attempt to realize his lifelong dream of visiting Reagan Ranch in California -- all expenses paid.

Frederico Sanchez is a sophomore International Relations major from Guadalajara, Mexico.

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