College Students Forced to Watch Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’

Here’s a disturbingly inconvenient truth: Students at Roger Williams University in Briston, Rhode Island, were forced to watch Al Gore’s global warming schlockumentary if they wished to graduate.

Think I’m kidding?

As reported by Young America’s Foundation (h/t NBer Dahlia Travers. Also, please watch the following video of Fox News’ Neil Cavuto interviewing one of these students on the May 9 “Your World”):

The week before Earth Day, professors teaching the lab portion of CORE 101: Science, Technology and Society required their students to watch Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth during class. Every student at RWU must enroll in this core class to qualify for graduation.

Amazing, huh? Fortunately, the students didn’t go down without a fight:

Dana Peloso, a Young America’s Foundation student activist and a junior at RWU, sent an email to the assistant dean of the science department, Jeffrey Hughes, conveying that same point: “with the scientific community unsure if global warming is man induced or part of the natural cycle of the earth, do you think that it is intellectually honest to only show the alarmist viewpoint? If the movie is still shown, what plans are there to incorporate the ideas of leading global warming skeptics into class discussion?”

Here was the University’s absurd reply:

In his response—obtained exclusively by Young America’s Foundation—Jeffrey Hughes defended his decision to present only the leftist position on climate change: “scientists no longer question whether the atmosphere is being warmed due to human activities and instead are increasingly impressed with the speed and impact of the process. I repeat: there is no doubt that we’re warming the earth and that a continuation of our activities will lead to profound changes” (emphasis added).

The RWU Assistant Dean also implied that adopting the Left’s talking points on global warming is part of a student’s maturity: “As educators, we’re charged to encourage your intellectual growth. That can (actually, will) be uncomfortable at times, and we’re also here to help you deal with that discomfort.”

Wow. Educators are charged to encourage intellectual growth even if it’s painful? Sounds a bit authoritarian, dontcha think?