After a year of trying to get equal time (at least) for conservative ideas on the campus, it has become my impression that no other group in America could be more ignorant or out of touch with the world than the university faculty. DePaul University in Chicago is no different. What was once a site for discovery and insight has now become a festering swamp of mock-openness, selective siversity and morally bankrupt values. Who would have thought that the so-called “Largest Catholic University in America” would proudly institute a Queer Studies minor? Why did the university administration hjeed leftist urges to cancel a Coca-Cola contract? Why did DePaul’s president feel it necessary to create a “Free Speech Task force?”

Clearly something had to be done and here’s what I did: not all at one time, not perfect but attainable. I decided that on a campus where the Left went unchallenged, conservatism had to be provocative in order to call attention to ideas. And so, the “DePaul Conservative Alliance” was formed. We held an Affirmative Action Bake Sale, a satirical protest of racial preferences in the hiring of faculty and admission of students in universities.

We sold brownies and sweet rolls to fund our effort—charging minority buyers less than whites as provide “compensation” for years of injustice that minorities had endured. We sold the goods at a discount to all women but charged white men more, to demonstrate years of inequity with sexism.

There was an uproar at the “unfairness” in our prices. We were called racists. The school demanded a hearing into our practices. We loved it. Once we saw the Reverend Jesse Jackson show up with a megaphone to denounce us as “racists,” we knew we made an impact. We had sparked a university-wide discussion on racial preferences and free speech. That was how we got our message across and we’re continuing even as I write this.

The Left initiated a charge t hat Coca-Cola was murdering union organizers in Columbia. Since DePaul had a Coca-Cola contract and we had become visible, I was appointed to the “Fair Business Practices Committee” to examine the allegations. I helped thwart the Leftist agenda to get the contract cancelled. After a big hubbub the university signed a more lucrative contract for it with Pepsi.

Later that year, I organized a series of fund-raisers to attract conservative luminaries to the campus where only liberals and the radical Left (ala the infamous Ward Churchill) had appeared. We got Dinesh D’Soouza, David Horowitz, Michael Novak, Dr. Thomas Woods, Dr. Paul Kengor and George Weigel. In a little over a year—my first at DePaul—the tide has begun to turn away from complete Leftist domination and toward true diversity of ideas. We also appeared on national television. Slowly the president of DePaul felt he was forced to act.

After being called a “basket-case of free speech violations” on Fox News, the president instituted az “Free Speech Task Force” charged with drafting a “free speech policy.” I was asked to serve on the task force—as the token conservative. What I encountered was a grossly perverted model of free speech: ideas that are “offensive” should be prohibited. I proposed a “maximum freedom” policy. At first it was wholly rejected but later even the Leftist faculty members began to realize that maximum free speech protected them as well—so it was grudgingly accepted.

Things have been looking up and I am preparing to enter Junior year at DePaul. The school that proudly called itself the “largest Catholic university in the United States” had no permanent Catholic chapel. Now the president has ordered the construction of a Catholic chapel in the Student Center. And he has denied Hamas-sympathizer and Holocaust denier Norman Finkelstein tenure.

“Freedom,” Ronald Reagan declared, “is never more than one generation away from extinction.” May I suggest something? My generation is the generation of liberty. The tide is pushing up the borders at every university across this country. But the tide can go either way—toward a hatred of ideas or toward a true marketplace of ideas. My struggle at DePaul is only one of many being fought on campuses at Anywhere, USA. I encourage those of you who are discouraged to pick your head up and look beyond the fog of intolerance. Up there ahead is daylight. Step up and see the horizon.

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Nicholas Hahn III is co-founder and President of the DePaul Conservative Alliance. Earlier this year he was listed by the Young America’s Foundation as one of five nationally known conservative leaders at universities in the nation. Meanwhile Nicholas maintained a 33.3 GPA and held a part-time position with a Chicago law firm.