Re:University of Oregon will monitor students' social media ...
by throwaway894345 on Wednesday June 02, 2021 @11:13AM
(#27369643)
Agreed. This isn't slippery slope any more either, universities and other institutions have demonstrated a willingness to deliberately conflate "violence" with ideological transgressions even including _not_ speaking out on an issue a la "silence is violence".
Here are a smattering of cases in which universities suspend, fire, or pushed out faculty on the premise that they are creating "unsafe environments" (or similar implications/accusations) with their heterodox ideas (note that these are just professors, but there are certainly many more cases in which student transgressions result in suspensions, expulsions, etc):
* the Christakises were pushed out of Yale for arguing that the university didn't need to dictate to students what Halloween costumes were appropriate for students--that the students were adults who could decide for themselves. They weren't right-wing demagogues (far from it), but they didn't toe the party line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Christakis#Free_speec...
* Another couple of university faculty (Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying) were pushed out of an Oregon university for declining to participate in a "no-whites-on-campus" day. When 50+ students assembled outside of classroom angrily chanting, accusing him of racism and white supremacy. Evergreen police were ordered to stand down, and told Weistein they couldn't protect him and that he should stay off campus. The mob also circulated names and photographs of his students and grafitied things like "fire Bret" on campus. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-tur...
* St Johns professor found guilty of violating Bias, Discrimination, and Harassment policies and accused of racism for asking students to weigh the pros and cons of the Columbian Exchange (a standard history question) https://www.thefire.org/teaching-history-not-permitted-st-jo...
* A U Chicago law professor is investigated for a quiz question referencing censored versions of slurs: "n___ and b___" (that's verbatim, the full words were not spelled out on the exam). The question was about legal recourse for a situation in which those words were used. https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/15/tenured-law-prof-appare...
Here are a smattering of cases in which universities suspend, fire, or pushed out faculty on the premise that they are creating "unsafe environments" (or similar implications/accusations) with their heterodox ideas (note that these are just professors, but there are certainly many more cases in which student transgressions result in suspensions, expulsions, etc):
* the Christakises were pushed out of Yale for arguing that the university didn't need to dictate to students what Halloween costumes were appropriate for students--that the students were adults who could decide for themselves. They weren't right-wing demagogues (far from it), but they didn't toe the party line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Christakis#Free_speec...
* A professor was suspended for saying a Chinese word that sounds vaguely like a racial slur: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/09/08/professor-sus...
* Another professor was suspended for the tone of a letter in which he declined to grade black students differently than white students in the wake of the George Floyd murder. https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/06/10/ucla-professor-on...
* Another couple of university faculty (Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying) were pushed out of an Oregon university for declining to participate in a "no-whites-on-campus" day. When 50+ students assembled outside of classroom angrily chanting, accusing him of racism and white supremacy. Evergreen police were ordered to stand down, and told Weistein they couldn't protect him and that he should stay off campus. The mob also circulated names and photographs of his students and grafitied things like "fire Bret" on campus. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/when-the-left-tur...
* Another professor was fired for criticizing his university's handling of sexual abuse scandals and anti-semitic behavior by University employees. https://www.thefire.org/tenured-professor-abruptly-fired-aft...
* Northwestern Professor Laura Kipnis's is sanctioned by the university's Title IX tribunal for criticizing Title IX (criticizing Title IX is a violation of Title IX, apparently): https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/laura-kipniss-endle...
* St Johns professor found guilty of violating Bias, Discrimination, and Harassment policies and accused of racism for asking students to weigh the pros and cons of the Columbian Exchange (a standard history question) https://www.thefire.org/teaching-history-not-permitted-st-jo...
* A U Chicago law professor is investigated for a quiz question referencing censored versions of slurs: "n___ and b___" (that's verbatim, the full words were not spelled out on the exam). The question was about legal recourse for a situation in which those words were used. https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/15/tenured-law-prof-appare...