So Bizarre: Rick Santorum Claims California Universities Don't Teach American History

Last week, Santorum claimed most of the public universities in the University of California system do not offer American history courses.

SANTORUM: "I was just reading something last night from the state of California. And that the California universities — I think it’s seven or eight of the California system of universities don’t even teach an American history course. It’s not even available to be taught."

Every school in the University of California system also offers a history major and American history coures (the Cal State system is separate from the University of California system). 

Brooke Converse, a spokesperson from the UC system recently told blog ThinkProgress that all the UC schools (with the exception of UCSF) have to take a course in American history in order to graduate, but that the specific requirements vary per campus. In fact, most of the UC system requires their students to take a year's worth of American history courses and additionally a semester's worth of American government. 

The Colbert Report has also covered Santorum's statement, commenting on Santorum's source, "like all critics of higher education, Rick subscribes to the same West Coast news paper I do, it's the Something From the State of California News.

Watch Stephen Colbert's full response: 

The Colbert Report

This post originally appears on Campus Progress' Pushback.org