Eliminating Oppression in Higher Education

As the debate continues over allowing students, faculty, and staff at institutions of higher education to protect themselves from criminals, the Huffington Post has a slideshow highlighting a few things that should be allowed on college campuses before firearms. Some of the ridiculous prohibitions colleges and universities in the United States have had:

• Christmas Trees: A ridiculous prohibition that infringes on a student's ability to freely express their religion.
• Lobsters: An absurd prohibition that prohibits people from cooking fresh seafood.
• Snowball Fights: An absurd prohibition on clean, relatively-safe fun.
• Bubble Machines: Another absurd prohibition on clean, safe fun.

Some other institution of higher education have come up with almost oppressive student codes of conduct. At some schools, students are prohibited from drinking under the age of 21, even if they are in a country where it is legal. Others curb free speech, and some even try to curb sexual activity amongst their student body.

It is pretty clear these these restrictions go against the American ideals of freedom and democracy. They restrict personal choice and are an attempt to indoctrinate young American voters into the idea that they can and should be told what they can and can't do without due process or proper representation. 

In order to stop colleges and universities from these ridiculous, left-wing practices, the government should mandate that no school that engages in these practices will be considered eligible for federal funding of any sort. This includes research grants, but also would prohibit financial aid or loan funds from the government to be used towards attending these institutions. Schools would either need to change their policies, or they would find students transferring away to places where they can use federal financial aid and loan money.