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."
They hate themselves, so they project their hate on others.
I read her response. She’s not a very good liar, is she?
She’s desperately trying to pawn the issue off on the revised (and, IMHO, more accurate) title, dismissing the content and substance of the article itself, almost acting like she’s satarizing her own hate and intolerance.
I’m guessing that for all UM’s bluster about faculty freedom of expression, she’s in a world of hurt careerwise, at least from a classroom teaching perspective (she’ll probably be kicked upstairs and relegated to administrative stuff). It’s now too easy for ANY Republican who takes her classes to challenge his grades using both internal (ethics charges) and external (lawsuits) means.
Heck, I’d even lift a page from the Progs own playbook and try to infiltrate Republicans into her class so that if they rec’d anything other than As they could mount formal challenges.
We’ve always known democrats were the haters... we’re not blind.
The unresolvable problem:
Both this bitter hag and the school expect us to believe that Republican students in her classes can be treated fairly and without bias.
If they value fairness the tiniest little bit (as they claim), how can they continue to either charge tuition for this course and/or allow this creature to teach? It boggles the mind.
The hypocrisy of the haters. A German author is sounding off about killing all men as they are needed in this modern world. This author is okay with hating Republicans. Others have spouted about hating white people. So I guess the racism and abuses of the 19th and 20th century is really okay with these people, it just depends on who is in power and control.
I believe that these haters, all of them, should be careful about what they want to do. tables do turn, power ebbs and flows. If they legitimize hateful speech as being okay, then when it is done by others when others are in control could be difficult for everyone. Just saying. . .
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