Arizona State University is the latest institution to learn the meaning of “go woke, go broke” when a top donor announced he would stop his $400K a year donation after the school fired a conservative professor. The professor’s crime? Holding an event that featured conservative speakers such as Charlie Kirk and Dennis Prager:
Atkinson wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal describing what happened. She blasted ASU for their attacks on free speech: “…beneath ASU’s written commitment to intellectual diversity lies a deep hostility toward divergent views.” Her article goes in depth describing the absolutely chilling lengths to which professors, students, and the administration went to try to get the event shut down and her terminated.
They succeeded in getting her fired, but not before the event went on successfully as scheduled:
The sponsor of the T.W. Lewis Center, Tom Lewis, didn’t take too kindly to Atkinson’s firing and promptly yanked his annual funding, causing the Center to shut down in late June. He was alarmed by the University’s blatant attack on free speech, saying in a written statement:
After seeing this level of left-wing hostility and activism, I no longer had any confidence in Barrett to adhere to the terms of our gift, and made the decision to terminate our agreement, effective June 30, 2023.
Lewis had been donating to the school for 20 years, so they just cost themselves a lot of cold hard cash with their censorship regime. Hard to argue with this guy’s conclusion:
Thanks for the ping and the post.
We need MORE of this, talking with their pocketbook.
Let the left/Demonrats fund totally these propagandist institutions of higher indoctrination.
Ann Atkinson needs to sue and get her job back if she even wants it.