The organizers of yesterday’s protest should be ashamed of themselves, not because of the McCarthyite flavor of protesting a piece of writing (or really, protesting any piece of writing. I mean what the hell?) that isn’t objectively homophobic (from the article: ”Indeed, many of the lectures and workshops that they hosted this month were great successes. Academics and scientists addressed students about the details of gay history, more worldly students chose to attend sex-toy workshops, and the rainbow-colored arch of balloons over Low Library was a palpable indicator of the University’s commitment to tolerance.” Not exactly lifted from a James Dobson sermon, huh?), but because the article was advancing a viewpoint that’s defensible, even if it advanced it in a singularly tactless way. Moreover, it’s an opinion that the paper has published before.

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There’s a lot that’s questionable in the Spec’s presidential endorsement–hasn’t the 95% number been semi-debunked by now? And hasn’t McCain’s domestic policy been more or less organized around “pushing programs to the backburner?” No matter. The Spec made an admirable attempt at looking at the election in terms of higher education issues. It failed because it ignored the single most important higher-ed issue of all: Obama’s plan to nationalize the student loan industry.

As I wrote yesterday, it’s flabbergasting that no one’s picked up on this yet, and disheartening that no major commentators or analysts have weighed the pros and cons of getting rid of the guaranteed loan program. While there are few valid arguments for scrapping all federal subsidies for private lenders, I personally reel at the prospect of the government shouldering $85 billion worth of new debt, just as I reel at the interventionist mindset that Obama’s loan policy reflects. Even if the chances of him implementing an across-the-board government loan program are slim, the very idea indicates a certain philosophy on educational equity that’s gone  uncriticized and unexamined, even a week before most Americans go to the tolls. Farbeit for the Spec E-board to criticize or examine it–’cuz we really are beyond being able to give an even vaguely even-handed look at Obama’s policies by this point, aren’t we?