Colorado college prof calls students 'Nazis,' 'fascists' in response to opening of TPUSA chapter

A Colorado professor unleashed a tirade on conservative students, calling them "Nazis" after Fort Lewis College reversed a prior decision and approved a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter on campus. Turning Point chapters have been springing up across the country in the wake of founder Charlie Kirk's Sept. 10 murder.

Anthropology professor David Kozak was caught flipping off students during an unhinged meltdown, appearing visibly upset at the Associated Students of Fort Lewis College's (ASFLC) decision to reverse its initial denial of the TPUSA chapter just days earlier, which was triggered by a petition that amassed over 1,000 signatures, according to Rocky Mountain Voice.

Senior Jonah Flynn, the driving force behind the TPUSA chapter's push for recognition, was celebrating the group's hard-fought victory with a handful of supporters when Kozak approached. "Go on, fascist! Go on, Nazi lovers," said Kozak to a group of students.

"Come on, Nazi's! Come on, Nazi's!" Kozak continued, shouting down the line. He then angrily waved at a camera after realizing he was being recorded and proceeded to flip it off. The professor's verbal tirade didn't slow down, despite individuals in the crowd asking Kozak to "calm down."

The outburst lasted nearly two minutes, with Kozak continuing to rant about "fascist infiltration" and the dangers of conservative ideologies on a "progressive campus."

The confrontation occurred amid a challenging few weeks for the TPUSA chapter at the small liberal arts college. The national TPUSA organization, founded by conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September, threatened legal action after the college denied accreditation on October 29 despite the approval of several left-leaning groups.

Fort Lewis College has since reaffirmed its "commitment to fostering an inclusive, student-centered learning environment that values both free expression and responsible leadership," according to a statement obtained by Fox News.

I guess Kozak’s own teaching doesn’t apply to him:

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https://www.durangoherald.com/articles/kozak-trigger-warnings-and-censorship/

Kozak: Trigger warnings and censorship

By Hollis Walker Opinion editor
Saturday, Sep 30, 2017 5:00 AM Updated Saturday, Sep. 30, 2017 11:18 AM

I’ve long considered one of the pillars of a liberal arts education to be the active questioning of one’s own cherished beliefs, positionality and worldview.

Learning happens by interrogating one’s assumptions, data and culture. Threats to this approach to education on the Fort Lewis College campus today come in the form of trigger warnings and censorship. Trigger warnings and censorship are claimed by some to be beneficial because they alert students to course or book content that might precipitate an unwelcomed, intense emotional response and, therefore, they are said to protect students from discomfort.

This assumes that students are extraordinarily fragile and that they require faculty to protect them from psychologically damaging course material. Rather than seeing challenging course material and the college experience as an opportunity to learn, some course content and faculty are being cast as insensitive or worse.

My reason for writing this column is to expose that trigger warnings and censorship are present on the FLC campus, and I fear that this situation will be normalized or accepted as business as usual.

Here are four recent examples:

A tenured biological and forensic anthropology professor – think “bones” – was requested by other FLC faculty members to post trigger warnings not only on all of her course syllabuses, but also on her course catalog listings. The requesting faculty maintain that these actions would demonstrate cultural sensitivity with the implication that her academic research is somehow insensitive. The reality is that such measures also may influence students and administrators to question the political and ethical correctness of these courses, their content and their instructors.An untenured faculty member was requested by one or more senior FLC faculty to remove a flyer they had posted around campus that advertised a new course. The poster had a picture that was deemed offensive or insensitive for some students and campus guests. The untenured professor created and posted a new flyer without the “offending” photo. One could reasonably assume that this untenured professor felt afraid of the consequences if they had not acquiesced to the request made by senior faculty.Center of Southwest Studies’ Delaney Library pulled volumes of peer-reviewed books from normal circulation and were placed in a restricted area known as “the vault.” Now, neither students nor faculty can freely browse these volumes. I was informed that these books contain images and/or information that the library and center deemed sensitive or offensive to some students.A complaint was filed with the Institutional Review Board claiming that an IRB-approved research protocol of a four-member research team was exploitative, their methods flawed and that their research was “potentially” emotionally harmful to the student research subjects. The complaint suggested that the research could trigger adverse feelings in the student research subjects. An internal IRB review was conducted despite there being no evidence of actual harm. The research protocol was voluntarily canceled by the researchers. I believe that their decision to cancel was because two of the four research faculty are not protected with tenure. An outcome of this IRB review amounts to the censorship of these four faculty because the administration decided they are no longer permitted to conduct this line of research.To issue trigger warnings, to remove pictures from campus walls, to remove books from library shelves and to prohibit someone from conducting their legitimate research undermines the ability of students to fully engage the material however challenging. These examples also are all violations of the principles of a liberal education at the very least and, at worst, they are forms of censorship.

It is preferable for students to be exposed to language, research, images and books that push them emotionally, intellectually and culturally, as opposed to them being shielded from these things or of having others mediate their exposure.

As Dr. Barbara Morris, FLC provost, said during this fall’s convocation – students must be willing to contend with a diversity of ideas and persons, that each student should extend one’s previous intellectual and personal boundaries and embrace “a willingness to submit (one’s) beliefs and hunches to the test of critical dialogue” with others.

My responsibility is to determine how best to teach a range of materials to generate critical dialogue, including materials that students may find troubling because of their own personal, cultural or religious views. It is better to assist students to confront the things they might not like, rather than to shield them from it.

Preparing students with strategies to cope with the world as it is, in ways that are constructive and beneficial to them as individuals and citizens, is to accomplish my job as a teacher and mentor.

David Kozak, Ph.D., is a professor of Anthropology at Fort Lewis College. Reach him at kozak_d@fortlewis.edu. A full-length version of this column was circulated to all FLC faculty on Sept. 21 and can be read at http://bit.ly/2fWTlpa.

"Go on, fascist! Go on, Nazi lovers," said Kozak to a group of students.

1. Thanks for posting the lengthy excerpt of the letter-to-the-editor which Kozak submitted; it displays remarkable clarity and rationality, and is surprisingly conservative in its worldview!

2. Kozak should be encouraged to freely express his political opinions, however crudely!

3. The TPUSA students should feel absolutely no need to rebut or refute Kozak's accusations! (Hitchen's Razor: “What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.”) They should either respond with a reference to Hitchen's Razor, or simply ignore Kozak entirely.

4. Another tactic which I would suggest the TPUSA student use it to simply flip the script and loudly accuse Kozak of being the actual Nazi. Simply pointing their fingers at him and loudly proclaiming "Nazi! He's a Nazi! This man is a Nazi! Professor Kozak is an avowed Nazi!" - if done consistently for six or eight weeks by numerous students whenever they encounter him on campus (not in the classroom!) - should do the trick. The students should refuse to engage with Prof. Kozak, and simply make accusatory remarks while jabbing their fingers at him.

After all, that's essentially what Kozak, himself, is doing - though on a smaller scale.

Kozak wants to walk around campus, randomly shouting at people? He should get the same in abundance!

Regards,

Its an American Indian college!!! Are you an Aleutian Islander? Free tuition!>>>>>>

Fort Lewis College (FLC) is a public liberal arts college in Durango, Colorado, and the only four-year and graduate studies institution in the Four Corners region. FLC’s historical evolution spans its origins as a U.S. military fort, an Indian boarding school, and eventually a public college.[4]

In accordance with a 1911 mandate,[5] Fort Lewis College provides tuition-free education to qualified Native American Tribal and Alaska Native Village members. The college serves a diverse community comprising 37% Native American/Alaska Native learners, representing 166 Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages, 43% first-generation students, 42% Pell Grant recipients, and 15% Hispanic/Latinx students.[6]

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education designated FLC as a Native American-Serving, Non-Tribal Institutions (NASNTI).[7] FLC is also recognized as a First Generation-Serving Institution[8] by the State of Colorado and an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI).[9]

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