Hopefully, none of my students will ever need the following advice, but just in case, here is some advice on how to pull an all-nighter.

I am confused. Should not the ideology behind liberalism promote free expression? Yet, it would seem that on most college campuses free expression of ideas is only free for those who agree with the dominant liberal culture. Whether in the area of poli-sci, the hard sciences, or journalism it is simply not acceptable to openly express conservative ideas.

In Letters To A Young Conservative, Dinesh D’Souza shares what happened when he was invited to a university to speak. He arrived to find protesters with bullhorns and placards surrounding the auditorium making it impossible to enter without the assistance of security. The protesters then proceeded to follow him into the auditorium where they did everything possible to keep him from sharing his thoughts with those assembled.

Undoubtedly the high point of the evening occurred near the end of my talk when the large, disheveled woman came rolling up the aisle shouting, “We don’t need a debate! Stop this man from speaking! My usual strategy in such circumstances is to try to calm the protester down and engage in a discussion, but this time there was no point. Finally, the woman was dragged from the room by the campus police. On her way out she yelled, “I am being censored! I am being censored!

It is amazing to me that so many of those who invoke the first amendment to justify their own right to freedom of expression, are often the same people who will do everything possible to keep others from expressing ideas contrary to their own. Maybe what we need most on our college campuses are courses in critical thinking.

Tomorrow I must turn in grades for the classes I taught at the college this Spring. Over the last few weeks I have fielded no less than nine appeals for mercy.

“If I don’t make a good grade I will lose my scholarship.”

“If I don’t make a good grade it will look bad on my pageant documentation.”

“I would have done better but ….

Well you get the idea.

These appeals to mercy are know as the argumentum ad misericordiam fallacy. In the Fall I plan on starting the semester with a discussion of it. Rather than present a reasoned argument with supporting information the appellant makes an attempt to evoke sympathy. Even if logically irrelevant such an argument can be successful if the one to whom the plea is made is a compassionate bloke. Personally, I would prefer that they bring me a shiny red apple — or a cup of Starbucks coffee.

The magnificent seven, plus three. The first ten graduates from the College at Southwestern should be very proud. They were there at the beginning of something truly great. The College at Southwestern was established in 2005 and “is rooted in the rich history of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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Recently, national media outlets spilled much ink over several teachers who wanted to carry handguns to provide for their own safety. I have a great deal of sympathy for our educators. Most people do not realize just how common violence is on school campuses. 1 in 30 violent crimes reported to the FBI occurred on school campuses. However, I suggest that the answer is not in having teachers carry weapons, but in the employment of enough qualified security officers and the installation of security technology on all public campuses.

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