Hawkeye Republican

THE POLITICS OF MEDICINE: University of Iowa medical students have accused the Carver College of Medicine of discriminating against conservative and religious students.

This is totally like one of those situations when you're walking down the street and all of the sudden you see a Starbucks across the street from another Starbucks - then you suddenly realize how pervasive the problem is.

At the University of Iowa, it is common practice to deride all stripes of conservatives, often times in class through snarky comments and slanted discussion. I've had my own experiences with blatant discrimination, which I often shrug off.

One encounter last November was not so easily dismissed during a visit to the Career's Center. A counselor, noticing my Bush button, yelled, "Get out of here or take that thing off!" Thinking it was a joke, I just laughed. He glared at me and stormed off. Needless to say, I think I waited an additional hour.

However, this is not to say that all Iowa professors are this bad. When I related this story to a very high-placed, liberal university official, she was disgusted. But,I have had particularly good experiences that I credit, mostly, to my strong convictions.

To remedy the problem, the school is now planning a student led “discussion” between students, faculty and school officials. Reality check here, people. We're bombarded by weeks of front page headlines and chapters of editorials about pink locker rooms in Kinnick, but get a "discussion" for a serious charge of ideological discrimination?

Sounds like your run-of-the-mill public university.