If you did not happened to read Robyn Blumner's column in the May 7th Daily News, you missed a great opportunity to gain a tremendous insight into the workings of a modern university.

     Blumner's piece dealt with the plight of Christopher Brown, a graduate student at the University of California at Santa Barbara who, after his thesis had been accepted by his faculty committee, dared to do something utterly unthinkable. He criticized the administration.

     Specifically, Brown added a couple of pages to the introduction of his thesis in which he called the dean and staff of the graduate division a bunch of "degenerates" who were "an ever-present hindrance" during his graduate career. As a result, his committee, with the full support of the dean, decided that he should not receive the degree he had already earned until he removed the "offending" pages.

     Welcome to the politically correct world of today's colleges and universities.

     Controversy and criticism have always been integral components to higher education. The right to hold unpopular viewpoints, the right to vehemently disagree, and the unalienable right to criticize should be at the core of the university.

     But a constant emphasis on political correctness inhibits genuine dialogue and legitimate inquiry. Indeed, the deliberate suppression of any perspective tends to adversely affect the educational process. For example, if a student is unhappy with the institution in which they are enrolled, they should be completely free to voice that discontent in any manner they choose -- without the slightest fear of repercussion or consequences.

     In the private sector, the perception that an employee is disloyal is often legitimate grounds for some type of disciplinary action. There is something to be said for allegiance to the company -- at least to the outside world. In academe, however, withholding criticism should be seen as a form of disloyalty; i.e., infidelity to the intent and purpose of the learning process.

     Yet today's colleges and universities are often leaders in the fight to silence divergent viewpoints. During the last couple of decades, political correctness has slowly but surely become a defining feature of academic culture.

     If you look closely, there is really nothing new about political correctness. It has always existed in one form or another. Throughout history, there have always been attempts by one group to impose it's idea of what's appropriate on those around it.

     This is essentially what happened to the original inhabitants of this continent. There is little doubt that the early conquerors and missionaries felt that they were inherently right to force their 'superior' values on unwilling recipients.

     We now live in a diverse society that is, by most standards, historically unique. Never before have so many cultures existed side-by-side. Due in equal measure to both economics and technology, physical location is becoming irrelevant as a means of social identification.

     On a college campus, however, political correctness is most evident when dealing with issues related to race, ethnicity and gender. While the academic community is encouraged to discuss and even celebrate outward diversity (skin color, language, dress), it is much more reticent about inward diversity (thoughts, feelings, actions).

     The idea that there is one, innately superior way of conceptualizing an issue runs counter to everything higher education should stand for. Political correctness has become a mechanism whereby those who feel more enlightened can suppress the thoughts, ideas and forms of expression that run counter to their relatively narrow perspective.

     The bottom line is that political correctness is really about censorship.

     For all its diehard proponents, censorship simply does not work -- never has and never will. It is remarkably ineffective as a means of restricting ideas and actions that are outside artificially imposed norms. This is especially true on campus. Much to the dismay of many administrators, censorship creates martyrs and even makes heroes out of those who decide to fight the system.

     In the 1920s, students were routinely dismissed from college for "not being a typical Syracuse girl" or "not being in sympathy with the management." Sound ridiculous? Take note. Eighty years later, many colleges and universities still espouse policies which contain such phraseology as "only wholesome demonstrations permitted" and "students may be dismissed if their 'state of mind' so dictates."

     And heaven help you if you call the dean a fascist. Just ask Christopher Brown.