Ben Carson Says Colleges with 'Extreme Political Bias' Need to Be Monitored, Defunded
Ben Carson, the new Republican frontrunner in the Iowa caucuses race, said in a media interview that the Department of Education should monitor, and if necessary, defund, institutions of higher education with "extreme political bias."
Glenn Beck of The Blaze asked Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, in an interview if he would like to abolish the Department of Education.
"I actually have something I would use the Department of Education to do," Carson replied. "Would it be pack boxes for the State Department? The IRS?" Beck further asked, apparently jokingly.
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"It would be to monitor our institutions of higher education for extreme political bias and deny funding if it exists," Carson responded.
College students have in the past pressured or restricted conservatives from giving speeches on their campuses.
President Barack Obama has also urged colleges to allow diversity of points of view to be expressed.
Carson recently emerged as the new GOP frontrunner in Iowa.
"I expected that I was going to sort of inch past Trump, but I didn't think it would be that giant leap," Carson was quoted as saying in response to the increase in his support.
The latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll showed Carson at 28 percent, leading Donald Trump, a billionaire businessman, by 9 percentage points, with the rest of candidates trailing far behind.
"For me, since I'm not a politician, I don't really spend a lot of time strategizing about how I'll do this and how I can get this and that," Carson said, according to USA Today. "I'm going to be who I am, and that's it. If that works, great, and if it doesn't, that's fine, too."
