By Malcolm A. Kline

When the administration at California Polytechnic State University dropped its efforts to discipline rising sophomore Steve Hinkle for posting a flier on a college-approved event after a lengthy campaign, the school's action did not surprise Hinkle's faculty advisor. "I've seen them do this before," Cal Poly psychologist Dr. Laura Freberg says.

As Campus Report reporter John Swingle recounted the story, freshman Steve Hinkle attempted to post a flier for a College Republican event in the school's Multicultural Center last November. Not only did students there advise him not to but the University's Vice Provost for Academic programs, W. David Conn, threatened him with expulsion if he did not write a letter of apology to the objectors.

Said students, by their own admission, hung out in the lounge eating pizza while Hinkle, in compliance with school guidelines, attempted to post his flier advertising an upcoming talk by African-American writer Mason Weaver, author of It's Okay To Leave The Plantation.

Transcripts of University proceedings against Hinkle and correspondence with Cal Poly's Administration compiled by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education support the College Republican's side of the story. Although the university promised Hinkle in a letter that the school would not pursue the matter, the engineering major wants one more action on its part to end the controversy.

"Steve wants his records expunged," Dr. Freberg says. According to Dr. Freberg, the Hinkle affair was not the first time University employees attempted to silence opposing viewpoints nor the first time they retreated from taking action after their targets stood their ground.

"Once, one of our College Republicans posted a flier without our okay. He resigned and the University demanded an apology from the new CR board of Directors who had nothing to do with the posting of the flier. When we refused, they backed off," Dr. Freberg remembers. Dr. Freberg serves as advisor to the Cal Poly College Republicans.

"Another time a student in a political science class did a paper on speakers who came to Cal Poly and found that 99.9 percent of them represented one political viewpoint. His teacher flunked him."

Dr. Freberg confronted that teacher, a young, untenured associate professor. The associate professor changed the grade.

Dr. Freberg herself has tenure. She would advise teachers who do not hold establishment viewpoints not to speak out unless they have tenure.

Although normally thought of as a means that liberal administrators use to protect like-minded colleagues, Dr. Freberg says the tenure system can work in favor of more conservative teachers. "Our Chancellor hates tenure," Dr. Freberg says, "He instituted a merit pay system to keep teachers in line."

Dr. Freberg herself gets very high ratings from her students, posted on the Cal Poly web site. She admits that Republicans are not that common in her profession.

"On my end of it, at least, it's more likely. I'm a rat labber and a Skinner Box psychologist. The clinical and social psychologists are mostly liberal," Dr. Freberg explains.

A longtime Californian, Dr. Freberg received her Phd. In Psychology from UCLA in 1979. Politically correct teaching marked the California campuses even then, Dr. Freberg remembers.

"I went through the U. C. system in the early 70s and learned to write a really slam dunk Marxist essay," Dr. Freberg says. "It became almost a game for me." This politically correct culture persists to this day on California campuses.

"I've had students come up to me and tell me, 'We know you're a Republican because of what you don't say,' because we're not the ones beating the kids over the head with our ideology," Dr. Freberg says. Dr. Freberg's husband has run for public office as a Republican, successfully and unsuccessfully.

Nor does Dr. Freberg advocate tilting classrooms to the right rather than the left. She simply advocates, well, teaching and learning.

"When I teach Freud, I tell my students, 'Look, I disagree with all of this man's conclusions but you need to know what he said."

Dr. Freberg's two daughters went to college outside of California, one to West Point, the other to the University of Florida at Gainesville. She urges all interested parties-students, parents, teachers, journalists and education advocates-to look at the rest of the educational system as well as at the college and university level.

I've looked at textbooks over my children's shoulders and seen things like, 'Atilla the Hun was tolerant of other religions," Dr. Freberg remembers.

She sees some sign of hope in higher education, even in California and not only from conservatives. "The incoming students and younger faculty are more conservative, even in the U. C. system but there are liberals getting a taste of 'This is what to teach and think."

"I've heard liberal teachers say, 'I want to teach Shakespeare and can't.'"