A conservative collegiate organization has given the University of California, Berkeley, the dubious honor of an award intended to highlight instances of political correctness gone amok on college campuses.

Berkeley took second place in the annual College Outrage Awards, ranking behind Yale University and UC Santa Barbara, which tied for first.

The awards, also known as the Pollys, are handed out by the Collegiate Network, which supports conservative student journalism.

Organizers say the awards demonstrate how the "absurdities" of political correctness on campuses contributes to the decline of educational standards.

Berkeley was singled out for an instance last year in which the student government allocated $35,000, including money from mandatory student fees, for a campaign to defeat Proposition 54.

The proposition, voted down in October, would have banned the state from collecting racial statistics on government forms, including college applications.

Student leaders say the allocation was allowed under UC guidelines, but Berkeley officials later ruled the expenditure violated a ban on university spending for political advocacy.

However, because outstanding bills needed to be paid, officials granted a one-time exception to the rule, but ordered the students to use a different fund -- not one that includes student fees -- to pay the bills.

The College Network took exception to that exception.

"Perhaps 'one-time exceptions' can be made for every student group that openly defies the university's spending rules?" the Collegiate Network wrote in bestowing the Polly.

Anu Joshi, vice president of external affairs for Associated Students of UC Berkeley, said the award appears to condemn student activism.

"It's ridiculous to say that Berkeley administration is totally liberal," said Joshi, who said the student government disagreed with the university's findings. "We're students and we're organizing. It's fine if they (the Collegiate Network) don't agree with what we're organizing about, but that's not the point."

Yale and UC Santa Barbara shared the top Polly for incidents involving sex.

Yale was singled out for a student-organized Sex Week at Yale, which, according to the Network, enjoyed university funding and included hand-outs of miniature vibrators and a talk with porn star Devinn Lane, among other "consistently vulgar" events.

And UC Santa Barbara's Race Matters Series, sponsored by the campus Multicultural Center, featured a presentation by a senior called "Gay Men of Color in Porn," part of the student's thesis project.

The presentation included clips from pornographic films and a discussion of the impact of minority stereotypes in gay porn.

University officials lauded the work, saying it showed the university is willing to explore difficult dialogues.

The Collegiate Network said it was an effort to legitimize pornography as an academic pursuit.

Rounding out the Polly Awards were Northwestern, Duke and Georgetown universities. For more information, visit www.pollyawards.com