The Road to Campus Serfdom – John O. McGinnis

Dean Obeidallah: The left's outrage should focus on its own reckless empowerment of the state.

He says Reagan administration tried to protect against giving government power over private institutions.

He cites Grove City College , a small Christian institution in Pennsylvania , for example, in a dispute with the government over Title IX .

The court ruled that Title IX applied only to the specific program that received federal funds, not the institution as a whole.

Any violation of Title VI or Title IX anywhere within the institution, as defined by an administration, puts a university at the risk of the loss of all federal funds in all its operations.

The Obama administration’s “ Dear Colleague ” letter in 2011 effectively mandated that universities overhaul their procedures for sexual abuse and harassment cases or face total loss of federal funding.

Clumsy governmental dictates on contentious matters such as transgender rights inflame societal divisions by transforming moral disagreements into winner-takes-all political battles.

Civil society thrives precisely because it embraces diversity and facilitates compromise.

The left, fixated upon uniform outcomes, consistently undervalues the power of voluntary cooperation and cultural persuasion.