Was Bush wrong to issue Medal of Freedom to Donna Shalala?

The White House announced today that six individuals will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.

One of these individuals is Donna E. Shalala, a former president of Hunter College and current president of the University of Miami in Florida who was secretary of health and human services under President Bill Clinton. (NY Times)

(Of course, the NY Times is incorrect about the Hunter College fact)

She was also former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

However, according to the Democracy Project, Donna Shalala does not deserve this award. It is also puzzled why the Bush White House would choose to select her in the first place.

Shalala was the architect of the infamous speech code at Wisconsin which, before it was declared unconstitutional in 1991, was among the most draconian in the nation. She was even declared the "Queen of PC" by education expert Checker Finn.

It has been argued by her supporters that the speech codes was adopted by the university's Board of Regents, and that Shalala was opposed to anything that interfered with the free exchange of speech. Of course, she did not publicly oppose the speech code which was considered unconstitutional.

She also crafted the "Madison Plan" at UW, through which she mandated quotas for hiring minority professors, doubling the number of minority undergraduates, passed an ethnic studies requirement, and opened a multicultural center.

Even at the University of Miami, her administration has worked to clamp down on dissent -- in particular, conservative student groups. She used her influence as President to skew the recognition policy in the Committee on Student Organizations to suppress free speech for the sake of political correctness and liberal thought.

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It seems she has been politically adept in creating a consensus throughout her career, yet her authoritarian management policy has created an atmosphere of peer pressure designed to ensure conformity with her views. Yes, she will advocate diversity, exchange of different viewpoints, but ultimately, she will agree with you if only you agree with her views and conclusions.