If you read the culture-war headlines these days, you’d likely conclude that elite universities are citadels of uncompromising and relentless leftism. News from my alma mater today makes that myth a little more complicated.

Waitaminit: Who’s that snappy-looking fellow on the big screen?

Here’s the story: So apparently there is a big digital display board on Madison’s campus. They use it to announce exciting upcoming events, such as the best lecture ever to take place, coming soon on October 14. If you look closely, you can see that someone typed in a derogatory reference to President Trump.

Apparently, a keen-eyed campus Trump supporter (or maybe just a vigorous devotee of Madison’s political-speech policy) complained and the message was removed. As a university spokesperson explained,

university policy prohibits the use of university resources for political campaigns. On UW-Madison’s website explaining the policy, “political campaigns” are described as an activity that “can include, among other things, solicitation of campaign contributions, service in furtherance of candidates, political parties and political action committees, and advocating a particular position on a referendum.

So is this proof that campuses are hotbeds of leftist thinking? Well, yeah, sorta. Someone in charge of that message board saw fit to insert an anti-Trump message. On the other hand, this story also shows that such leftist activism is officially quashed immediately, and that people are on the lookout for it. It is not tolerated or winked at. It is not universally agreed upon.

Most important, it shows that there is a scintillating event coming up on campus. If you’re in Madison on Monday, October 14, be sure to come to Education 245 at noon to hear my talk about the ways conservatives won their school battles in the twentieth century!