The Guardian

I went inside a rightwing safe space to find out the truth about universities | Cas Mudde

With universities in an ‘existential crisis’, Turning Point USA sells a safe space for conservatives who have convinced themselves they are the embattled minority
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 22: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with conservative activist Charlie Kirk at a forum dubbed the Generation Next Summit at the White House on March 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. The meeting brought together young Americans with members of the Trump administration to discuss the economy, tax reform and the opioid crisis. Kirk is founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing nonprofit organization that since 2016 has maintained a watchlist of university professors that it alleges 'discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.' (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Anyone who regularly reads a US newspaper knows that universities in this country are in an existential crisis. No, not because of decades of underfunding, or the partly related ballooning university administrations, but because of “postmodernism” and “safe spaces”. It is one of the few things conservatives and liberals agree on these days. The dominance of “fake courses” and “political correctness” is a major theme in conservative media, from Fox News to the Wall Street Journal, as well as liberal media like the New York Times and, yes, even the Guardian.

Almost all accounts of alleged censorship of “conservative voices” are based on events, as well as some “public Ivies”, notably the . But how bad is the situation in the “real America”, ie that vast space between the coasts that is sometimes, derogatively, referred to as “the flyover states”?

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