Persistence of Vision

This weekend, the University of Southern California will host "How Free Is the University?", an international conference that gathers some of the most celebrated minds from the United States and abroad to debate the present state and future of academic freedom around the world. The Moving Picture Institute will have a strong presence at the conference: MPI's founder, film producer and civil liberties advocate Thor Halvorssen, will participate in a Saturday morning session on indoctrination, ideology, and intimidation in academe, and on Sunday evening, the American Freedom Alliance and the USC College Republicans will co-host the Los Angeles premiere of MPI fellow Evan Coyne Maloney's acclaimed documentary Indoctrinate U.

A powerful film that documents how America’s colleges and universities have degraded our educational atmosphere with speech codes, biased teaching and scholarship, and entrenched double standards, Maloney's film met with a rapturous response from students when it toured campuses nationwide during the spring semester. "The Indoctrinate U screening was a great success!" enthused a student at the College of St. Benedict and St. John's University. "I was pleasantly surprised by how funny people thought it was." An East Tennessee State student remarked that "those in attendance will definitely be looking at their experiences on campus differently in the future." And a Cornell student called Maloney's documentary "a rare opportunity for validation."

Sunday's premiere will be held at 8 p.m. in USC's spectacular 1200-seat Bovard Auditorium. Admission is free for students with valid ID; the admission charge for non-students is $10. In honor of Father's Day, a father and child may enter for the price of one.