Elizabethtown College, the liberal arts school which I attend, now has both a radical feminist group called Womenspeak and a homosexual advocacy group called Allies, the latter, of course, filled with sympathetic heterosexuals, primarily women. One would think that a small private school of 1,400 students in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, could insulate itself from the rampant political correctness plaguing larger and more prominent institutions of learning. But this hope ignores the all-pervasiveness of the academic left, and the government which empowers it. In response to the emergence of Allies, I cofounded the Campus Community for American Unity, a small organization of highly motivated young conservatives dedicated to preserving America’s moral and cultural heritage.

The CCAU criticized the Student Senate for lavishing on the Allies a budget that exceeded the funds granted to other extracurricular organizations, and even academic clubs. Since then we have been attacked for failing to do the “American thing,” meaning accept homosexuality as an “alternative lifestyle.” If campuses are supposed to be forums for the free discussion of ideas, why was the CCAU’s objection written off as the mean-spirited rantings of a small number of homophobes? Clearly, what the left really wants is not tolerance and diversity, but thought control and a constriction of free speech.

We do not question the right of the Allies to make a case for homosexuality, but we do believe that the obvious disparity in the allocation of student funds points to larger problems here and elsewhere. Our communities, states, and school administrations are now controlled by federal grants and the fear of violating federal guidelines. Elizabethtown College, for example, under significant pressure to attract more minorities (who comprise a very small percentage of the student body), now has a full tuition grant available to racial minorities, in order to increase “diversity” on campus, something few people here seem to mind. Our campus eagerly accepts the situation; by being “diversified” the college will qualify for more federal aid and remain accredited by a federally certified agency.

The CCAU is trying to remind the students of Elizabethtown College of our moral, cultural, and historical traditions. Wc have invited speakers like Samuel Francis to address us on campus; purchased literature sympathetic to our concerns for the college library; and will continue to fight against such Allies-sponsored events as the National Coming Out Day and for the return of our school to the business of scholarship, away from politics and the cause du jour.