“Indoctrinate U” gets alternative distribution
March 19th, 2007 by Zsofia
The new American documentary “Indoctrinate U” exposes the politicisation of US university campuses, and the growing thought-control that students and professors suffer. Since the film by award-winning Evan Coyne Maloney could not get a commercial distribution deal, it is now being promoted over the internet and through private screenings. The film’s trailer recently went live on this website.
“When we think of college, we think of intellectual freedom. We imagine four years of exploring ideas through vigorous debate and critical thinking,” Maloney said. “But the reality is very far from the ideal. What most of us don’t know is that American college students surrender their rights to free thought and free speech the minute they set foot on campus.”
The film has been described as a scorching indictment of higher education in America today, one that should make students, parents, trustees, lawmakers, voters, and taxpayers sit up and take notice. Briatin’s Daily Telegraph has called it “as slick and incisive as anything by Michael Moore.”
Maloney spent two and a half years investigating jaw-dropping incidents of political persecution – directed at students and professors alike – at more than twenty schools across the country. From elite Ivy League campuses to the largest state universities and the smallest community colleges, Indoctrinate U points a critical lens at every level of the academic establishment.
Hard-hitting and humorous, the film tells the story of how, in the name of education, schools ruthlessly compel conformity of thought. Focusing on the experiences of students and faculty who risk harassment, censorship, and even their futures when they dissent, the documentary film makes the campus culture wars – often treated as an abstract battle of ideas – intensely personal and unforgettably human.
“To the tune of tens of thousands of dollars a year, students are being robbed of their education,” Maloney said. “Higher education is systematically defrauding students, parents, and taxpayers. And many trustees, the people who are supposed to be overseeing this system, are letting it happen by failing to act.”
At once a warning and a wake-up call, the documentary film is bound to stir up controversy and spark much-needed debate. The film was produced by a team headed by Stuart Browning, a software entrepreneur, blogger, and filmmaker; entertainment attorney Blaine Greenberg; and Thor Halvorssen, former CEO and executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
