It's no secret that higher education in America today is, by and large, a leftist echo chamber cesspool filled with activist liberals who are committed to forcing leftist views on students. Once again, mirroring the biased lessons offered in lecture halls, America's supposedly prestigious colleges and universities are sending their graduates off into the real world with one last dose of leftist indoctrination.
As Young America's Foundation has documented for three decades in its annual Commencement Speaker Survey (disclosure: this writer previously worked for YAF and compiled four releases of this report), the number of liberal commencement speakers at the Top 100 colleges and universities vastly outnumbers conservative speakers in 2022.
NEW: With 53 liberal speakers imparting progressive ideas and just 3 conservatives addressing 2022 graduates, the bias in this year’s commencement season is undeniable.
— YAF (@yaf) May 16, 2022
Read our annual report here: https://t.co/R0wH53NhD4
As YAF found in this spring's survey, there are 53 liberals speaking at commencements while it identified just three conservatives set to address graduates: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (Virginia Tech), former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow (University of Florida), and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis (Boston College).
On the other side of the ideological spectrum, the release from YAF accompanying this year's survey highlights the leftist luminaries set to speak at once-proud institutions:
The Class of 2022 will hear divisive speeches from many left-wing speakers with a history in social justice and “anti-racism,” including Ken Jeong and Dwayne Wade. Harvard University is welcoming New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, notorious for her tyrannical response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite his sinking poll numbers and rising inflation, President Joe Biden himself is scheduled to speak at University of Delaware’s commencement––so long as he can remember to show up on time.
Other outspoken liberals who will be speaking at some of America’s top-rated schools include Kal Penn, Deval Patrick, Taylor Swift, Samantha Power, and Bob Woodward.
Also notable among 2022's commencement speakers is the presence of multiple biased left-wing business leaders, reporters or media figures, while there are zero journalists from ideologically diverse outlets or conservative business leaders — apart from Glenn Youngkin who's now Virginia's governor.
Woke and embattled Disney CEO Bob Chapek will speak at Indiana University, though it's unclear what he can say to graduates other than how to run a once-beloved company into the ground and lost its favored status in the state of Florida. Factually challenged Bob Woodward will speak at Boston University, though he's not one to impart wisdom to future journalists on how to *not* botch a major story. CNN's Van Jones will speak at Wake Forest University, presumably not to instruct students on how to become a personality on one of the least-watched cable news networks in the country.
Where are the executives from Fox News Channel who could talk about building a network from the ground up to become the most-watched cable channel? The conservative business leaders who herald, rather than demonize, the free market through which they became successful? The conservative elected officials who proved, very clearly, during the pandemic that individual freedom — not tyranny — is the best way to govern? Conservatives, and their hopeful, optimistic messages for the rising generation are virtually nowhere to be found when it comes to spring commencements. America's "elite" colleges and universities would rather invite divisive leftists — in some cases imported from other countries — than have conservatives speak.
"Higher education is failing our students by choosing to indoctrinate, rather than to educate," YAF Spokeswoman Kara Zupkus told Townhall. "The results of this year’s Commencement Speaker Survey shows that liberals are making a last-ditch effort to prevent students from hearing a conservative perspective––even on their last day as a student. Instead of inviting mouthpieces for a failed presidential administration or second-rate celebrity SJW activists, these universities should host inspiring voices of leadership that will unite, and not divide the Class of 2022," Zupkus added.
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