Brainwashing 201.(Scan: Short news and commentary)(Movie Review)

"Fascists have no right to speak!" yelled a left-wing protestor, stomping onto the stage at the premiere of Evan Maloney's new film, Brainwashing 201. It was a dramatic example of what Maloney's picture is all about--the lack of fairness on college campuses, where liberal academics turn their classrooms into pulpits for political indoctrination, while conservatives "have no right to speak." For those who haven't been on college campuses recently, Maloney's documentary is eye opening. Non-left academics are harassed for their political views. Students who show a conservative bent are threatened. Military recruiters are driven off campus.

The movie builds on Maloney's earlier work, Brainwashing 101, released in the fall of 2004. Maloney, who edits his films himself, shows a growing command of the medium, and this second effort is tighter and livelier than the first. Several times, police escort Maloney and Stuart Browning (who holds the unusual dual credits of film financier and cameraman) away from campuses. Even at Maloney's alma mater, Bucknell, the head of campus security tries to arrest him in front of an audience.

"I can understand why these guys want to shut me up. People who are abusing power usually don't want cameras around. Fair enough. But students and professors are being punished simply because of their ideas, and somebody has to tell their story" Maloney states in the film.

The scenes featuring Laura and Roger Freberg are a cogent demonstration of this abuse. Laura teaches psychology at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Her husband owns a business in town and is an active Republican. During the recall election of Governor Gray Davis in 2003, people started to notice that Laura and Roger shared the same last name.

"People would come into my office, close the door and say, 'Please tell us this is a mixed marriage;" Laura says on camera. "One colleague really lost his temper and said 'We never would have hired you if we knew you were a Republican.'"

"No one in the administration of Cal Poly is a Republican," Roger states. "No one in Laura's department is a Republican. I'm unaware of anyone in the school of liberal arts who is a Republican except for Laura."

Someone attempted to break into their house, swastikas were burnt into their lawn, and their children were threatened, according to Roger. Laura suffered daily harassment at work and endured countless meetings with her ...