Posted on 05/06/2007 1:22:46 PM PDT by dmh191
On Monday evening at Tufts University, I attended a long, grueling show trial -- the kind of show trial that doubtless will be repeated at campuses across the United States. This show trial was convened with the sole purpose of punishing The Primary Source, Tufts' lone conservative periodical.
What was The Source's sin? On December 6, 2006, The Source printed a tasteless parody carol entitled "O Come, All Ye Black Folk." The carol was written from the perspective of an admissions officer, admitting students solely based on racially discriminatory stereotypes: "All come! Blacks, we need you, / Born into the ghetto. / O Jesus! We need you now to fill our racial quotas." The point of the carol, the editors later said, was that affirmative action is inherently degrading to racial minorities. After the carol was misinterpreted, the editors repeatedly apologized for printing it.
In the April 11, 2007, issue, The Source printed a page entitled "Islam: Arabic Translation: Submission." The page carried quotes from the Koran juxtaposed with facts about certain adherents of Islam -- their involvement with terrorism, discrimination against women, and the slave trade, among others.
This material is clearly political speech. Though Tufts is a private university, the student handbook explains that "the university is committed to free and open discussion of ideas and opinions."
Well, not that committed. "Harassment involves attitudes or opinions that are expressed verbally or in writing, or through behavior that constitutes a threat, intimidation, psychological attack, or physical assault," says the handbook. "Harassment is prohibited at Tufts and may result in disciplinary consequences." And being offended, according to the Committee on Student Life (CSL), constitutes harassment.
Such policies incentivize victimology. Predictably, one David Dennis, a self-described gay black student, brought a complaint of harassment before the CSL averring that the carol constituted a "psychological attack by causing any black student to question their own intelligence and capability as a student at Tufts based solely on their skin color." Meanwhile, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) similarly claimed that the "Islam: Arabic Translation: Submission" piece was "a deliberate attack on the Muslims on campus and is clearly meant to provoke us."
So the CSL held a hearing to determine whether The Source ought to be punished. The show trial was closed to outside media; I was only present because members of The Primary Source editorial board asked if I would give a closing statement on their behalf.
And a show trial it was. The room was filled to capacity with Dennis and MSA allies, who cheered, on cue, for Dennis and his MSA compatriot, Shirwac Mohamed. Dennis and Mohamed called witness after witness to complain of emotional distress: a lesbian student who whined that The Source opposed the homosexual agenda; a black female student who complained that she had -- horror of horrors! -- been engaged in a dialogue about the carol during one of her classes; a member of the MSA who carped that the quotes from the Koran were not placed "in context." Not one witness showed documented evidence of psychological harm.
And the CSL swallowed this gibberish whole. Barbara Grossman, the radical left chair of the CSL, compared printing the carol to spray-painting a swastika on a synagogue. Another CSL member stated that labeling Islam violent was unacceptable in any way, shape or form.
The process was a mockery. After an initial request for silence, the crowd was allowed to cheer for the complainants and razz The Source. The CSL board allotted twice as much time to Dennis and Mohamed than they did to The Source. They granted Dennis and Mohamed extra time, while clocking The Source to the second. Dennis was allowed to slander members of The Source as racists, stating that the conservative agenda was "lower taxes, less government, hate black people."
Around midnight, I gave my closing statement, explaining that diversity of thought means protection of unpopular political views. Then Dennis took the floor to attack The Source. "We don't like you. Nobody likes you," he said. "There should be consequences."
Dennis and Mohamed will likely receive what they want from a board so biased it makes Castro's judiciary look like a haven of open-mindedness. If you're against affirmative action -- if you feel, as Justice Clarence Thomas does, that it is inherently degrading -- you may be guilty of harassment at Tufts. If you believe that Islam is linked to violence, you may be guilty of harassment at Tufts. On the Tufts campus, forget defending your views or listening to others' views: Victimology trumps all.
Just the latest incident in the ongoing Stalin-esque ideological purge on America's college campuses.
Your post reminds me, that there has never been a Nuremburg (trial) for Communists. It isn’t just Nazis who committed crimes against humanity. Mao, Stalin, Castro, the two Kims and their followers executed, tortured, and starved to death millions of people. Some of these monsters (Kim, Castro, their followers, and followers of Stalin and Mao) are obviously still alive, but have not been brought to justice. Communist mass murderers and torturers are just as guilty as the Nazis, but they seem to get a “free pass”.
Tufts has always been a left wing college.
Sounds like they need to contact Campus Watch and Fox News pronto. These PC cockroaches scatter when the light of day is shined on them.
big lie only works until the truth exposes it.
This show trial is outrageous. However, the conservatives should have been smarter about the ways in which they expressed their views. Being provocative in these particular ways does not help. It gives the liberal tyrants excuses to repress you (and worse), too.
Stupid businessmen who care only about sports teams and endowments — things they can understand and aren’t afraid to talk about. The rest they let slide.
actually I think it points to “contingent endowments” or “contingent gifts”
IOW a donation to a particular church is contingent on the faith maintaining the substance of that character.
Thus if a university goes totally koo koo like Tufts, the endowment/donation gets automatically yanked and turned over to a named contingent group. This installs competetion into not only getting the endowment but puts the institution on the alert for losing the endowment.
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]
I don’t agree with you. Leftists fight dirty, and one of the reasons Republicans (who are supposed to be conservatives) have not won many of their fights is because of being Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Milquetost, and mincing around afraid to say “boo” to a cat. Crooking the little finger drinking cambric tea while attending a minuet has got to end.
I agree with you 100 percent. Nothing I said in my prior post disagrees with you. So I’m all for tough material in conservative student publications, as elsewhere. But these particular things were pointlessly provocative. They made fun in ways that were too easy to label as racist and that failed to advance our argument, or to effectively undermine the leftist position. I understand that anything we say that the liberals don’t like will be called racist. But it’s a matter of how plausible such claims from the hard-left crazies sound to the less-crazy liberals.
No, you are wrong. Conservatives, and anyone who loves liberty, should offend PC views to the max. Let them express their disagreement by legitimate methods, they don't have to listen. Any attempt to compromise with the left wing tolitariat only encourages them.
Those who aren’t particularly vulnerable — and that includes many people with far less courage than these kids — should do as you’re suggesting. However, some people, including college students, ARE particularly vulnerable and have to be a bit more careful. Not to the point of not being tough, but rather, thinking a bit more about HOW to say tough things.
Must be hard to be the best and brightest person you know, and end up having to go to your safety school. ;-)
Well, there’s always more than one way to accomplish a goal, and not everybody is capable of performing all of them.
We DO, however, need the guys that will cut the liberals no slack, and will call them on everything.
Yup.
Hey, I like your tag line from Orwell.
Socialism is seditious to the American Constitution..
Until socialism is made illegal the conversation has not even begun..
Call me for the Civil War until that happens America is delusional..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.