“What are they teaching at Yale?”

It was through this exasperated query that Sean Hannity expressed his dissatisfaction with the state of education at Yale during a special “college forum” episode of “The Hannity Show” last Friday — during which Yale Dems member Eric Stern ’15 appeared as a guest alongside 13 other college politicos.

Hannity seemed unable to comprehend how someone like Stern could possible hold his liberal views unless he was being explicitly taught those views at Yale College. It fits a common conservative narrative: “the universities are brainwashing our children into becoming liberals!”

This is, of course, nonsense. Every Yalie knows that Yale does a remarkable job of promoting self-expression and individual thought – one need only to look at the success of last week’s Herman Cain debate with the YPU to see that Yale engages in none of the sort of “liberal brainwashing” that conservatives like Hannity like to pretend they do.

But maybe Hannity was just flustered. After all, Hannity, the conservative pundit who literally debates liberals for a living, clearly hadn’t expected that a bunch of college kids would challenge him so effectively. And Stern was certainly a large part of Hannity’s headache.

Several times during the debate, Stern goes toe-to-toe with Hannity and battles him over a variety of issues ranging from healthcare to taxes.

At one point in the debate, Hannity asked the students what percentage of their wages they thought they should keep, and what percentage should go toward paying taxes. While several students struggled to articulate an adequate answer (Hannity, of course, accused the Democrats of “dodging the question”), Stern took a remarkably creative approach and turned the question on its head.

“I question the entire premise of the question,” Stern said. I would say that you get a hundred percent of every dollar you make.” Stern went on to justify his answer by listing many of the public services funded by taxpayer dollars..

Way to go Eric! And keep reppin’ Yale to those who would try to disparage the value of our wonderful education.

Watch the full episode here:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZoDfnNXUsE

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64rJvt5tgQM

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MGsvA6NsI

Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7XroWcmuSE

Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq1BWQkaZH0