University of Delaware Celebrates Jan Blits' Academic Freedom Award ... But Why?

The University of Delaware has noted that University of Delaware professor and FIRE friend Jan Blits received the Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) from Michael Grebe of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

If you only read the university's announcement, however, you wouldn't have any idea what Professor Blits did on behalf of academic freedom to earn this prestigious award. In fact, Professor Blits, along with Professor Linda Gottfredson, was instrumental in helping FIRE put an end to the university's own coercive, mandatory program of thought reform in the university's residence halls back in 2007. If you don't know about this truly outlandish case, you should read about it and watch the short video.

Thanks to the National Association of Scholars for pointing out this omission. We're glad that the University of Delaware now seems to recognize the service that Professor Blits performed by helping stop the indoctrination of its students, but we feel it's necessary to point out that the people behind the discredited program are still directing the university's Office of Residence Life.