Posted on 12/18/2014 3:26:16 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
U-M professor Susan Douglas
Susan Douglas is a University of Michigan professor and department chair who is not shy about expressing her viewpoints - political or otherwise.
Earlier this week Douglas penned a column for the independent nonprofit magazine In These Times titled "It's okay to hate Republicans."
"I hate Republicans," she wrote to begin her column. "I can't stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal 'personhood.'"
University of Michigan spokesman Rick Fitzgerald responded on behalf of the school, saying it didn't share the same viewpoints as Douglas.
"The views expressed are those of the individual faculty member and not those of the University of Michigan. Faculty freedom of expression, including in the public sphere, is one of the core values of our institution," Fitzgerald said in an email to The Ann Arbor News.
"At the same time, the university must and will work vigilantly to ensure students can express diverse ideas and perspectives in a respectful environment and without fear of reprisal. The university values viewpoint diversity and encourages a wide range of opinions."
U-M's anti-discrimination policy states that people affiliated with the university cannot create "...an intimidating, hostile, offensive, or abusive environment for that individual's employment, education, living environment, or participation in a University activity."
The column was met with backlash from at least one member of the U-M Board of Regents, and Grant Strobl, the chairman of U-M's chapter of Young Americans for Freedom and a member on the National Board of Governors of Young Americans for Freedom.
Regent Andrea Fischer Newman wrote in a post on Facebook that she found Douglass's column "extremely troubling and offensive."
"...This particular column, which expresses and condones hatred toward an entire segment of individuals in our society based solely on their political views, fails to observe an equally important value of our University -- respect for the right of others to hold views contrary to our own. Professor Douglass's column ill-serves the most basic values of a University community," Newman wrote.
Strobl said in a statement that Douglas' column "...is blatant intolerance, and the university should take action on the behalf of intellectual diversity and all of the students who are intimidated into silence."
He continued: "In the position of an instructor, she can intimidate and inhibit the student's freedom of expression. I believe there is a difference between displaying your own beliefs as a instructor and making statements that are hateful and may intimidate students into a certain ideology."
The article was removed from In The Times' website this morning before reappearing under a new url.
A spokesperson for In The Times emailed The Ann Arbor News stating that the article was originally titled "We can't all just get along," but was then changed, without the author's knowledge or approval, to "It's okay to hate Republicans."
"The author rejects the online title as not representative of the piece or its main points. Her preferred title has been restored. We have also removed from the comments section all threats to the author's life and personal safety," the publication's spokesperson wrote in an email.
Douglas wrote in her column that in the 1970s, she worked for Republican senate minority leader Fred Lippitt in Rhode Island and "loved him."
"He was a brand of Republican now extinct -- a 'moderate' who was fiscally conservative but progressive about women's rights, racial justice and environmental preservation," she continued.
She added that her loathing of Republicans is a "recent phenomenon" and pointed out things like "Rush Limbaugh's hate speech"; "the GOP's endless campaign to smear the Clintons over Whitewater, then bludgeon Bill over Monica Lewinsky;" and "the ceaseless denigration of President Obama," as her reasons for hating Republicans.
"According to researchers, the two core dimensions of conservative thought are resistance to change and support for inequality. These, in turn, are core elements of social intolerance," she wrote.
"So now we hate them back. And for good reason. Which is too bad. I miss the Fred Lippitts of yore and the civilized discourse and political accomplishments they made possible. And so do millions of totally fed-up Americans."
It’s Okay To Hate Republicans: In our era of polarization, one party is guiltier than the other
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3237653/posts
Glassy stare?
Another unattractive female liberal that’s full of hate. What’s wrong with these people. Just a bunch of bitter, close-minded haters.
Ugly to the bone.....
Rush Limbaugh's hate speech, seriously?
ahahaha what a naive shallow little yutz she is.
#1Rush Limbaugh’s hate speech”
an utter fiction, imagined by naive, intellectually underfed, and stunningly bitter humorless perrenial CHILDREN!
#2 “the GOP’s endless campaign to smear the Clintons over Whitewater
if ya can’t do the time...don’t do the crime
#3 bludgeon Bill over Monica Lewinsky
she knows BILL personally I take it?
These people’s needs are far beyond my ability to meet....
The cone of ignorance has captured them utterly and completely.
She also hates
Spinach
Short walks on the beach
Sinatra
yada, yada, yada
This crap passes for academic freedom and objectivity
ya know what they say about mental heath...the sense of humor is the first thing to go.
this pompous air headed twit...is likely deep hurt by thinking of herself...as a FEMI-NAZI
Nonsense like this will continue as long as there is taxpayer supported tenure at these pseudo “institutions of higher learning”
They shouldn’t let idiots teach children. It turns them into idiots as well.
I hear a lot of feathers ruffling, but nothing happening. Was she punished or not?
She is clearly a vile hate filled monster.
She does have a right to be that tho.
She’s definitely GUILTY!
She has probably never listened to him.
If it has been titled, I hate homosexuals! She’d be gone.
She won’t be punished. Trust me, none of us here in the area are expecting anything to happen to her.
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