Kerby Anderson

When a Hollywood celebrity testifies before Congress, usually there is lots of fawning press coverage but very little of substance that can influence public policy. At the House Oversight Committee hearing on “Challenges to Freedom of Speech on College Campuses,” you had just the opposite. Some important things were said but it received little press coverage. Perhaps that is due to the fact that conservative pundit Ben Shapiro and comedian Adam Carolla were testifying. Adam Carolla talked about the changes on college campuses. In the past, he traveled to various universities and had a robust exchange of ideas and views. Today, he and Dennis Prager had trouble just getting on one college campus in California. He has a solution. Adults need to start acting like adults. “We’re talking a lot about the kids, and I think they’re just that, kids . . . They grew up dipped in Purell, playing soccer games where they never kept score . . . We need the adults to start being the adults.” He uses a great analogy. “Studies have shown that if you take people and put them in a zero gravity environment like astronauts, they lose muscle mass, they lose bone density. We’re taking these kids, in the name of protection, we’re putting them in a zero gravity environment, and they are losing muscle mass and bone density. They need to live in a world that has gravity . . . Our plan is to put them in the bubble, keep them away from everything and somehow they will come out stronger when they emerge from the bubble. Well, that’s not happening.” He ended his testimony with this plea: “Children are the future, but we are the present, and we are the adults and we need to act like it. And I feel that what’s going on on these campuses is — we need law and order.” He is right. Adults need to act like adults, and college administrators need to bring some law and order on the campus.