Talk show host challenges academia, media
by Karie Anderson

Shipwrecked on a desert island with a diverse group of survivors, the sole source of nutrition are the coconuts located at the top of a mountain where only the fit and strong will be able to recover them.

“The people who are naturally good at collecting coconuts will most likely be conservatives,” said Michael Medved at a seminar sponsored by the campus organization, College Republicans.

The hypothetical situation created by the nationally syndicated talk show host portrayed a circumstance where he believed the strong and fit mostly male group, or conservatives, would gather most of the coconuts. Equally, the weaker and unmotivated women and elderly, or libertarians, would argue that such a situation was unfair.

Using a reality show format to compare the two philosophies, Medved paralleled the situation to the world of academia claiming that libertarians were dominating the countries colleges and universities while the conservatives were out collecting coconuts.

“Conservatives understand that life isn’t always fair,” said Medved after arguing that a libertarian would want all of the coconuts divided evenly amongst the shipwrecked group.

Speaking in a well-exceeded maximum capacity Keystone auditorium, he claimed that in terms of academia, there isn’t any real question that students are more likely to encounter left-leaning ideals.

In addition to arguing that an overwhelmingly amount of professors are liberal, he also claimed libertarians govern the media.

“The dominant newspaper or papers is predominantly liberal,’ said Medved. “The truth of the matter, journalism at every level is overwhelmingly left.”

Speaking of the trend in conservative discourse expressed on the radio, Medved argued that radio commentary, similar to his, is unique to television and print news because he and others like him “do not pretend to be objective.”

“There really is no reason for people to keep supporting media that assault your value,” said Medved in regard to the liberal infiltrated media of today.

One of the many Medved listeners in the auditorium, Julie Schmidt, heard about the event through UWT student and husband, William.

“It was great. I loved it,” said Schmidt.

Despite the full house, none of the audience members challenged Medved’s claims about liberalism in academia and the media.

“I was surprised of the lack of liberal views,” said Scott Juergens, president of the College Republicans.

The student organization, focused on educating students and voters on the Republican Party, has been working on getting Medved to come to campus since last summer.

“We had to gain a couple of key allies in tracking him down,” said Juergens. “He is a favorite of mine. We weren’t looking for a speaker, we were looking for him.”

For more information on the College Republicans or any of the next events or meetings you can email the organization at uwtcr@u.washignton.edu.