The wrongheadness constantly cropping up in academia may have lost its shock value for those of us who track it closely. But a recent report from Politico.com, did manage to give me a jolt.

According to the report, a survey of 3,000 students at New York University conducted by an undergraduate journalism class found that

  • Sixty-six percent of those polled would barter their right to vote in the coming presidential election in exchange for a year of free tuition at the high-priced private campus
  • 20 percent said they’d trade their vote for an Ipod Touch, and
  • Half of the students polled said they’d forfeit their right to vote forever for $1 million.

The spin NYU has put on these appalling findings is worthy of the Mad Hatter. Dalton Conley, chairman of the university’s sociology department, told Politico.com that these results are in fact encouraging. The high price tag this majority of students place on their vote, Conley opined, indicated that they actually believe the right to vote is very important and valuable. When you believe things can’t get any worse…

(tip: writer Jack Kemp)