The AP reports that,

"Global warming issues took over lecture halls in colleges across the country Thursday, with more than 1,500 universities participating in what was billed as the nation's largest-ever "teach-in."

Organizers said the goal of the event, dubbed "Focus the Nation," was to move past preaching to the green choir, to reach a captive audience of students in many fields who might not otherwise tune in to climate change issues."

The Lewis & Clark College economics professor behind the day's activities "said he issued a call to arms to fellow professors across the country a few years ago, as his certainty grew that time was running out to address global warming."

Perhaps many of the day's events were relevant and apolitical (such as the discussion in an interior design course on sustainable materials like bamboo flooring).  And certainly, colleges and universities are appropriate places for wide-ranging discourse on current events, science, policy, and societal issues.  They should not, however, treat the students as "a captive audience" in order to push a particular agenda.