Young Rethuglicans redbait instructors

The Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat reports  as follows this morning:

Santa Rosa Junior College's oak-studded campus is aflame with controversy triggered by the anonymous posting of red stars and a reference to communist indoctrination on 10 faculty office doors.

Instructors quickly saw the action as a threat to academic freedom, but the student who claimed credit for the protest said it was about left-leaning bias in the lecture hall.

The stars, which unnerved some instructors, were accompanied by a copy of a state Education Code section prohibiting the teaching of communism with the "intent to indoctrinate" students.

"It makes me a little anxious," philosophy instructor Michael Aparicio said.

. . .

This college is in a pretty progressive area (Sonoma County voted almost 70% for Kerry).  

I think it's likely, as one quoted instructor commented further down in the article, that the Campus Republicans who claimed credit for this act are being deliberately provocative to generate media attention.

More after the jump.

I also think this is part of a calculated strategy by the Right to perversely appeal the the natural rebelliousness of young people by claiming, ludicrousely, that they are being oppressed by a leftish autocracy.

If we agree this is a media-savvy provocation, how should we react?

(I confess to some ambivalence in even posting this diary.  Am I playing into their hands?)