William Marvel: Indoctrinators

On May 5, The Conway Daily Sun reported that more than 200 citizens “turned out” for a virtual Senate hearing on New Hampshire’s biennial budget. Such a response was no surprise, given the ease of participation (at least for the technologically advantaged) and the partisan rabble-rousing employed to drum up opposition. More than the usual number of special interests showed up to defend the programs from which they benefit, and of course Democrats argued reflexively against any policies that might encourage competition for public schoolteachers. It was much like our own deliberative town meeting.

The budget bill includes a section prohibiting state contractors from teaching “divisive concepts” such as critical race theory and other radical doctrines. State contractors might include the faculties of our university system and the organizations that train their staffs. I expected a row over that when I saw an email from a Keene State College professor of environmental studies, urging her campus contact list to tune in for a spiel by KSC’s secretary-general of diversity and multiculturalism. Once “educated” on how damaging the bill could be to “diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” they could then register their inevitably hostile opinions via the virtual Senate hearing.