Bush Awards Medal of Freedom to Donna Shalala

According to a White House press release (Update II, below), President Bush has awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a woman who did her best to stamp out freedom of speech while chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Donna Shalala (NYT account, which incorrectly claims she's president of Hunter College, although she left in 1987)). And she's still at it today at the University of Miami, where she serves as president.

Of all the educators in the country to choose from, including those who have suffered under the type of politically correct regimes that Shalala has built up and overseen, the choice of Donna Shalala to receive our nation's highest civilian award is beyond puzzling; it is obscene.

Shalala was architect of the infamous speech code at Wisconsin which, before it was declared unconstitutional in 1991, was among the most draconian in the nation. She also crafted the "Madison Plan" at UW, through which she mandated quotas for hiring minority professors, doubling the number of minority undergraduates, passed an ethnic studies requirement, and opened a multicultural center.

So radical was her tenure at UW, so opposed to liberty were her mandates, that in January, 1993 Evans & Novak used her appointment as Bill Clinton's Secretary of Health and Human Services to question where Clinton, ostensibly a "New Democrat," planned on taking the country:

Shalala is the farthest to the left and most controversial of all President-elect Clinton's Cabinet appointments. The university's famed Madison campus, where she is chancellor, 'has become the epicenter of political correctness,' according to education expert Checker Finn. Critics in the academic community label her the 'queen of PC' – giving first priority to what is politically correct by liberal standards. She is a pillar in the administration's Hillary wing, succeeding her good friend Mrs. Clinton as head of the Children's Defense Fund.

Shalala's record provides no grounds for challenging her fitness to run HHS. It does challenge the authenticity of Bill Clinton's self-portrait as a centrist Democrat turning his party's course back to the middle of the road.

The columnists went on to outline Shalala's outrageously PC record at Madison:

The complaint against Shalala is that she embodies two of the worst transgressions by today's liberals flying in the face of American tradition: quotas and speech control.

'We can't provide a first-class education without women and minorities in the classrooms,' Shalala has decreed. That world view was behind the Madison Plan, her strategy for 'ethnic and cultural diversity.' It created an undergraduate ethnic studies requirement and revised the curriculum for the sake of 'understanding other cultures.'

Her off-campus record reveals the standard far-left contempt for American institutions. Note her comments on Ronald Reagan, again from Evans & Novak:

Shalala herself is the epitome of today's wholly politicized educator. In the 1988 presidential campaign, she signed a full-page New York Times advertisement assailing Ronald Reagan's record and affirming 'America's liberal tradition.' In 1991 she opposed the university regents' efforts to consider reinvestment in South Africa in view of racial progress there. In 1991 she personally lobbied the Pentagon to end the military ban on homosexuals, and joined a lawsuit for that purpose. In 1992 she commended gay and lesbian students for requesting their own university housing, while ruling it out as unconstitutional. In 1992 she helped found a new national abortion rights committee after the last Supreme Court decision.

In the 2001 edition of Choosing the Right College, which I edited, we noted that things had improved a bit by then, the infamous speech code having been overturned a decade before:

The freedom enjoyed by professors and students has been hard-fought, for UW-Madison has a history of speech codes and excursions into multicultural experimentation that is perhaps unrivaled in academia. What might be considered a cult of tolerance was set in place by Clinton cabinet member Donna Shalala in the late 1980s during her term as chancellor. Its legacy is still felt on campus.

At the University of Miami, where Shalala took the helm on June 1, 2001, her administration worked to clamp down on dissent--defined as conservative student groups. In April, 2003, FIRE wrote (PDF) to Shalala objecting to her administration's refusal to recognize a newly formed conservative group, the Advocates for Conservative Thought (ACT). The U's Committee on Student Organizations told the four students who sought to launch ACT that, given that Miami already hosted the College Republicans, a conservative group, and the Council for Democracy, which was politically oriented, that no other conservative or political groups were needed.

In the end, the group was approved, but only after repeated barrages by FIRE and the press. Shalala blamed underlings for not apprising her of the situation.

The Queen of PC honored by a GOP White House. The Mandarins who run higher education in America can sleep easily if those who should press for reform and accountability instead strengthen the status quo and trample the reformers, as this counterproductive move does.

Update: Michelle Malkin has linked to this post, and her readers are outraged.

Update II: Here is the text of the press release; text on Shalala is in bold (emphasis added).

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

(Rome, Italy)

_________________________________________________________

For Immediate Release June 11, 2008

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

President George W. Bush today announced recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation’s highest civil award. Established by Executive Order 11085 in 1963, the Medal may be awarded by the President “to any person who has made an especially meritorious contribution to (1) the security or national interests of the United States, or (2) world peace, or (3) cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” President Bush will honor these recipients at a White House ceremony on Thursday, June 19, 2008.

Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., has worked throughout his career to improve the lives of those suffering from neurological disorders. His groundbreaking contributions to medicine and his inspiring efforts to help America’s youth fulfill their potential have strengthened our Nation.

Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., has dedicated his life to expanding the horizons of human knowledge. His efforts to advance our understanding and treatment of HIV/AIDS have brought hope and healing to millions around the world.

Tom Lantos was a champion of human rights. The only Holocaust survivor to serve in the Congress, he devoted himself to securing liberty for oppressed people around the world and became a powerful witness for the importance of freedom.

General Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), is one of our Nation’s most accomplished and respected military officers. His selfless service and visionary leadership have helped keep our Nation safe.

Donna Edna Shalala is one of our Nation’s most distinguished educators and public officials. She has worked tirelessly to ensure that all Americans can enjoy lives of hope, promise, and dignity.

Laurence H. Silberman has devoted his life to promoting, enforcing, and defending the rule of law. He has been a stalwart guardian of the Constitution, and his work to strengthen our national security institutions has made Americans safer.