I thought that the point of going to college was "diversity" and encountering different viewpoints.

Turns out that this only applies if the diverse viewpoints are not too different, or in other words if the ideas expressed are acceptable to the liberal establishment. If you say something that offends their fragile sensibilities then you can expect to be thrown out in favor of somebody who preaches to the choir. The worst part of this is that the teacher was fired for expressing the true teaching of the Catholic Church in the context of a class about the Catholic Church. Perhaps the statement he made could be considered inappropriate if he was a sociology professor teaching a class about alternative sexuality, although as I said before the whole point of college is challenging a student's beliefs, but how do you teach a class about Catholicism without bringing up one of the most visible issues of contention between the Church and society at large? If the school expects its teachers to gloss over things that they consider uncomfortable then I can't imagine that their classes are very informative, and I have to say that I'm glad to have not gone to this university.

It's a good thing that the American Association of University Professors is on the professor's side on this, last I checked they were more likely to condemn institutions related to the Catholic Church than to support them. This does create a troubling precedent though, if teaching at state schools is subject to the opinions of secular culture then students will only learn what the liberal establishment lets them learn. I had a history professor at my Catholic university who idolized Margaret Sanger and considered legalized birth control to be the crowning achievement of the 20th century, and yet she was allowed to teach because the school valued professorial independence. If they replace this professor with one who omits or ridicules the beliefs of the Catholic Church where they aren't acceptable to liberal society then the class will suffer for it and the students will be that much less prepared to enter a society where the Church does indeed hold such beliefs. The school's representative argued that the professor's e-mail violated the school's rules on inclusivity, but apparently they have no problem with not being inclusive as long as the ideas they're excluding are time-tested and separated from the fickle whims of public opinion. The liberal establishment is only tolerant to those they consider "tolerant," which doesn't include anybody who holds views contrary to theirs. Anyone who challenges their pre-conceived notions and agendas is marked as "intolerant" and loses any right to their opinion.

It would be nice if I could believe that the mainstream media will pick up on this blatant attempt to indoctrinate the young by silencing opposing viewpoints, but I've been around long enough to know that if they did mention it they would portray the professor as an intolerant fascist and the university as a paragon of virtue and acceptance. The media is just as beholden to the liberal establishment as our system of colleges and universities, at least as far as social issues are concerned, so they're not going to give voice to something that would challenge the views of that establishment.