The American Spectator : Penn State's Anti-Veteran Bias

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Penn State's Anti-Veteran Bias

By Mark Hyman on 4.27.09 @ 12:32PM

Move over Janet Napolitano.

Move over Janet Napolitano. Your Department of Homeland Security is not the only public institution that claims military veterans pose a threat to public safety.

Napolitano has been under fire from veterans groups and others for a DHS document warning counterterrorism and law enforcement authorities of an alleged threat to the U.S. posed by "domestic rightwing terrorists." Included in the group of potential rightwing terrorists are individuals who are pro-life, support the Second Amendment and oppose the flood of illegal aliens.

The DHS pamphlet ("Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment") also singled out veterans who "were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war" for possible recruitment into domestic terrorist cells.

Pennsylvania State University has joined the Napolitano school of thought in warning against the dangers presented by military veterans. The university's Division of Student Affairs produced a series of vignettes under the category of "Worrisome Student Behavior." According to the Penn State website, the "vignettes demonstrate common situations where faculty or staff are attempting to help students."

One of the vignettes featured an Iraq war veteran who displayed aggressive behavior toward his instructor. In an office meeting with her department chair, the instructor characterized the veteran as dimwitted, poorly-educated, inattentive to instruction, argumentative and threatening.

Instructor: I'm still having problems with that student I mentioned.

Department Chair: The veteran?

Instructor: Yeah. He's having problems with his papers still. His grammar is really poor and he veers off-subject and he's just not really seeming to understand the assignments.…I just feel kind of nervous talking to him. He's very, his tone is very confrontational and I feel like he's always on the verge of losing his temper."

In the video, the veteran threatens the instructor after receiving a C+ on his assignment.

Veteran: I just want the grade I deserve. You know what? You'll see. You'll be sorry. I'm going to get you fired.

The university removed the video from the Student Affairs website after receiving student criticism. It may be viewed here:

What is truly worrisome is how Penn State's Division of Student Affairs, presumably the office that advocates on behalf of students, portrays military veterans as academically-challenged, belligerent and potentially violent. This is an incredibly ignorant tone emanating from academia considering it was the tremendous influx of World War II veterans who helped fuel the enrollment and growth of hundreds of colleges and universities immediately following the war.

Even Penn State has benefited handsomely from veterans-turned-students. The school has been closely associated with military training since passage of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Present-day on-campus military training programs include Army, Navy and Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps programs. The university credits veterans with contributing to the expansion of its 19 extension campuses around the state.

In 2001, Penn State President Graham Spanier announced the school's 5-year, $453 million contract with the Department of the Army to provide distance learning to an estimated 15,000 soldiers worldwide. The school's "World Campus" program continues today.

Page: 1 2 >

topics:
DHS, Veterans

About the Author

Mark Hyman hosts "Behind the Headlines," a commentary program for Sinclair Broadcast Group. You can follow him on Twitter at @markhyman.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (33) | Leave a comment

Joe DeWitt| 4.27.09 @ 3:23PM

In spite of policy, planning or history liberals will be liberals.
A white (I presume), Iraq war (Bush's illegal war) , veteran (conservative) is too tempting a target to pass up by the likes of academia.

Anthony| 4.27.09 @ 4:34PM

My, my, what good little leftist storm troopers we have at PSU. Obama should be giving the commencement address this year for all their eager participation in his Civilian Corps. Perhaps Napolitano can set up the first college goose- steppers civilian corps community out reach program at dear old PSU. Bill Ayers can be guest professor for next years initial program.
And what's this about a possible violaton of Policy AD29? Don't you conservatives get it, the policy only applies to you, not to illiberal liberals. Liberals, by nature can't engage in biased or hateful behavior, just like blacks can't be racists.
Conservatives have a lot to learn about our Orwellian, Saul Alinsky new world order. But don't worry, there will be plenty of time to learn when Obama opens the camps.

David Hinz| 4.27.09 @ 5:50PM

Hardly a surprise. Remember, the faculty of 2009 were the radicals protesting the Vietnam War - taking over college campuses and calling our returning servicemen "Baby killers." When they became tired of protesting, they went back into the classrooms, got their degrees in education, put on ties, and took over the campuses for real.

Their hatred for the military and all things Conservative have never changed. Now they run things!

Chemman| 4.27.09 @ 7:15PM

I don't think things have changed that drastically since I attended college as a returning veteran. We were usually hated because we destroyed class averages and curves. We knew what needed to be done to get the top grades and did it. The little darlings fresh out of high school didn't have a clue. PSU is just being ignorant about veteran achievement.

Jar Head| 11.21.10 @ 3:59PM

Well, sort of.....'we were hated' should be 'we are hated' by the liberals and the pseudo-Marxist revolutionaries like Bill Ayers and Fonda, Hayden, the Weathermen etc. Its ok for veterans who can weather the storm, but what about all those who fall prey to the 'hatred'. Be a little more concerned veterans.

Jim| 4.27.09 @ 7:50PM

When my daughter left for Penn State she was a die-hard liberal who wanted to work for the UN.
Half way through her first semester she called her baby-killer, war crazed, unstable, right wing tuition paying, veteran father and told me , " Dad the people here are morons, they don't learn how to think, they are only learning what to think".
My daugther is now a hard line conservative thanks to the PSU experince.

moron| 4.27.09 @ 8:17PM

Jim @ 7:50, I felt my college education way back in 1967-71 provided the same results for me as your daughter's. Unfortunately, many of my fellow students are now tenured professors sporting beards and teaching the indoctrination of their era. Sad, very sad. As to the subject, The only politically correct student Penn State would use as their character would be a regular white male, a veteran white male or any southern white male.

bob montgomery| 4.27.09 @ 8:49PM

So....since this has been going on for two generations now, since if you're not PC you"re an extremist, since there's nothing wrong with associating with Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, since expansion of hate crime laws are just a logical progression, since Christians are despicable, since America is destroying the environment, et cetera, ad infinitum...What's going to turn it around? Writing comments on blogs and websites?....Or perhaps not being ashamed or afraid to Be a Christian, talk openly about obnoxious behavior, disciplining children (even adult children), wearing your firearm on your hip in public, supporting parochial and private schools, using your stock-voting options
to rein in corporate anti-Americanism........a Third Party?......Tea Parties? ..... Civil disobedience?

Jar Head| 11.21.10 @ 4:07PM

Being Anti-US Veteran is PC. US veterans need to be far more pro-active in protecting other US veterans. Join VFW, American Legion, and vote for veterans running for office. Otherwise, we are just so much dead meat.......the Jane Fondas have no real enemies and no real accountability. Veterans need to rely on Veterans.....we really have few friends in the US.

1Freeman| 4.27.09 @ 9:03PM

Having a Ph.D. from a big-10 university I find this tactic kinda funny. Does Penn State even have a football team? Is anybody really listening to these idiots?
I actually found my Doctorate useful as I visited Refugee and poverty stricken villages along the Pakistan border... while packing serious firepower in case we were attacked by the completely uneducated taliban. Bringing medicines to children who were victims of the war was personally liberating and made the world a better place. Too bad someone didn't do the same for the Penn academic crowd. Perhaps their colic as a child tainted their personality and turned them into haters. Tisk tisk.

If only they had to stand up and fight for their own freedom... things might be different.

Cowards and blowhards.

BPT| 4.28.09 @ 5:28AM

As an Australian, it shocks me that some Americans – leaders and students alike – are so rude to their veterans, despite the many sacrifices they made, and are making. Even a dumb person can watch Saving Private Ryan.

Jar Head| 11.21.10 @ 4:13PM

BPT,
You must be joking. US veterans have few friends in the US. Vets who are pretty smart or come from supportive families can often make their way. The rest pay a huge price for fighting for the US, after they return to civilian life...can you spell N__gg__r?

Motown Mike| 4.28.09 @ 8:45AM

Leaving aside the veteran issue (which was a disgraceful portrayal), the instructor's demeanor in this video invites negative student reaction. She's wimpy, anxious to please, and does not understand the proper way to exercise authority. Students can sense it and will use it to their own advantage. I am a university professor and while students sometimes get mad at me for grading or whatever (and I understand that), they respect true, professional, calm wielding of authority (not authoritarianism, mind you). Students can appeal anything they want -- even get emotional about it -- but if they challenge me ("I'll sue you." "I thought you were fair.") I immediately end the conversation and will not communicate with them until I receive an apology. Nothing personal -- it's about respecting the office I hold.

Schumer| 4.28.09 @ 10:26AM

The death of common sense is alive and well at American Universities. I too have been escoriated for having the audacity to apply that which I have learned from living with the tools that the so called academics taught. Taking SKILLS classes instead of PABLEM classes caused this experieince. The skills class was turned into a social justice class The $152 book was discarded after week two. The skills were not important. The percieved injustices of legislation became the focus of the class. Needing technical skills to compete this VET student continued to teach himself the skills. How dare I then use common sense to point out that the points raised in lecture were mute points to reality. I was then told not to include COMMON SENSE in the clas discourse. The previous poster is right. They want to teach k. ot how to think nkids what to think. If the typing of this missive I apologize. I was disabled serving.

JJ JR| 4.28.09 @ 11:35AM

Y'all,

Just viewed the video--DISGUSTING and beguiling piece of progaganda. The libs are getting even more pronounced in their open disdain for all that's right with our Nation. But hey, hasn't Obamanation apologized over and over again for U.S. actions--many that include the blood shed by U.S. veterans or the actions to avoid the same (like apologizing for dropping the Bomb on Hiroshima which probably saved hundreds of U.S. servicemen). PSU might as well follow the One.

I'm a vet, but served after I had gone to college in the late 70s. We had lots of Vietnam vets in school--not one wasn't a mature gentleman, and none would perpetrate anything close to what's portrayed in this piece of video garbage from liberal make-believe land!

JJ JR| 4.28.09 @ 11:38AM

Y'all,

Correction: hundreds of THOUSANDS saved.

Richard Baker| 4.28.09 @ 6:46PM

The problem in the Academy is tenure. Without
any consequence for advocating the destruction of their society, these foolish children spout the most inane and mindless ideas and demand that you pay for the privilege of their engaging in this activity. Academic freedom is not carte blanche to decry and foster hatred for the country in which we live. However, since the universities and colleges in the US are now engaged in a conscious attempt to aid in the enslavement of the populace while the academics are considered the intelligentsia(?), don't these useful idiots realize that they and the media are the first voices stilled in a dictatorship? And these Ph.Ds are smart?

PolishKnight| 4.29.09 @ 2:54PM

I have a friend who was a TA at PSU who went through a similar experience and could have benefitted from such a video, but there's no way it would be made since it's not PC.

A female student approached him, a black male TA, and asked him to review her exam and see if she could get a better grade. She pulled the feminine wiles card because there's no way a normal student should have been able to ask a profession to find an excuse to give someone a higher grade "just because."

He looked at the exam and chuckled at a sexist question, written by another instructor, and said: "At least you got that one right!"

The woman was looking for something, anything to get a higher grade so she filed a complaint against him for sexual harassment. Instead of calling her out as an opportunist, he offered to apologize hoping to put it behind him. The committee took that as a confession and then put a black mark on his record and then demanded he go through sensitivity training, apology to the student, etc.

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I had a similar experience with a young woman also filing bogus, politically motivated sexual harassment claims and I got them dismissed by challenging her claims.

In Pennsylvania, there are these so-called traditional women who are masters (or mistress) at throwing men under the bus. One wrong move by a guy and he's through. Watch where you step in PA and especially "Happy Valley."

Jason | 4.29.09 @ 2:59PM

This video, although poorly made, is fairly accurate in the fact that liberal professors and department chairs have preconceived notions made up about vets and tend to scrutinize their work more so than the work of others. I had a similar conversation with a professor because I felt that she had not held up her obligation to teach me the relevant information. Afterward, of course, I was labeled as being unprofessional... with an attitude...that needed help dealing with my problems. I pay tuition, and realistically, the professor's salary, but could not get a word in edge wise because I "must be suffering from some problems associated with my service". Liberal teaching creates generations of self-haters and foolish people.

Deborah| 4.29.09 @ 6:49PM

The state of Texas is very good to its veterans, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has suggested that the state offer in-state tuition breaks to out-of-state veterans, hoping to lure them to Texas colleges. He says that's a potential workforce Texas would be proud to have.

Alan Healy| 4.29.09 @ 8:20PM

Thanks for showing this video which I had previously only heard about .
I wasn't shocked , at all , by the young man's remarks . His behaviour was a very mild version of the socialist-empowered reactions of British high school pupils who I have encountered over my years of teaching .
All he needed , were he a true problem , was a quiet word-in-the-ear from a conservative male member of staff - "Listen , pal .....".

No . My real problem with the video was the sickly , insipid leftie stereotypes of the other characters .
Caring , non-threatening authority figure had to be a Nelson Mandela look-alike . (Closer examination proves that he does not have a "Father Of The Nation" title on his desk ).
He was , however , less than paternal and statesman-like when he abrogated responsibility for what was going on in his department , leaving the lassie alone to deal with this latter-day Ernst Röhm ( and telling her to phone the police ! What a man!) .

Even worse was the weak , supine , anti-feminist female lecturer , whose lack of self-confidence and self-assertion is almost oxymoronic .
Had she been a real individual , I would suggest , the aggression , irrationality and lack of respect may very well have been expressed by her - almost certainly a Marxist/feminist harridan .

Most striking of all was the astounding weakness and passivity on the part of authority which the video advocates .
We'll be seeing a lot more of this approach for a few years now !

Michael Krumbein| 4.30.09 @ 4:15PM

Aside from the veteran issue, this video seems to be a way of making sure that attacks on political bias in the classroom are disregarded.

Maybe she should stick to teaching English?

Rick| 5.1.09 @ 4:02PM

de javu. Same mind think in 69 on many university campuses. How sad and how soon folks forget that their individual freedoms and rights are the direct result of the sacrifices our vetrans have made.

Rob (a vet)| 5.1.09 @ 11:54PM

I was totally amused by this pitiful and ignorant portrayal of veterans. Incredible how the college elite can so glibly try to stereotype veterans as neanderthal-like simpletons ready to pounce on the oh-so-balanced and intelligent college professor. Ironically, when I was in the Air Force attending college with civilians, I was amazed how infantile and totally ignorant many in class were without them ever dreaming of serving in the armed forces. I recall thinking this is the future of my country???

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Znagbar Tazenem| 3.5.10 @ 5:28PM

Typical of the American people of 2010. This beyotch needs to be named, shamed, and blamed for the remainder of her worthless life.

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geral| 11.15.10 @ 8:23PM

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