Pointing to the recent controversy surrounding the University of Delaware's residence-life education program, Michael J. Lewis sees evidence of a larger "sociological phenomenon" that "marks a great swing of the generational pendulum."

"Fifty years ago, it was still understood that colleges would exert some sort of moral control over the lives of [their] students ... [but] by the 1970’s, colleges no longer presumed themselves to be acting in loco parentis," writes Lewis, a professor of art history at Williams College. Now, Lewis argues, colleges are "rediscovering their moralizing potential." 

He attributes the shift to concern over underage drinking and the legal liability that stems from operating booze-soaked campuses. "But once administrators were hired to monitor student life," Lewis writes, "they soon widened their purview -- moving from what students drink to what they think."

Lewis, points readers to a John Leo essay at the Manhattan Institute Web site for further explanation of how this sort of "brainwashing" is done.