NAS Blog

Last week, Jonathan Bean wrote about tunnels of oppression on campus. Here’s a firsthand account of one such tunnel by Marc Seelinger, a conservative student at UNC-Chapel Hill. He writes:

Walking down the hall, we were confronted by two police officers, who lined us up against a wall and began checking IDs. However, they did not of course check everyone’s ID, just mine (the “Towel-Head”) and the “Wet-backer,” who upon being unable to produce ID, they promptly arrested. I will also note that the two officers had clearly defined and greatly exaggerated Southern accents. This was one of my main critiques of the Tunnel. Rather than provoking a substantive discussion about policy issues, the Tunnelers preferred to set up caricatures, straw men, and gross generalizations. In this case, they characterized those officers who legally enforce immigration laws as nothing but stupid, Southern hicks who hate Mexicans. There is, of course, plenty of room to debate immigration laws, but characterizing the current situation in this way was quite childish.

At the end, Seelinger reflects on the tunnel and concludes that it provided “valuable insight into the liberal mind.” He suggests the tunnel add “a section on political and intellectual oppression.”