Free Republic

Do you speak the grammatically-correct language of white supremacy, or are you better than that? At Maryland’s Towson University recently, a virtual conference ripped the racism of “rightful” words. June 17th’s Antiracist Pedagogy Symposium sought to shed light on selecting syllables. Associate Professor of Language, Literacy, and English Education April Baker-Bell — of Michigan State University — insisted teachers’ enforcement of standard English rules is an assault on “black language.” Furthermore, per Campus Reform, she indicated black Americans bear a burden of racist violence. White language guidelines, from the sound of things, aren’t too dissimilar: “[It’s apparent that] anti-blackness that...

When Americans over the age of, let us say, 45, look at any of the iconic paintings of America's Founders -- the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the signing of the Constitution, George Washington crossing the Delaware, any of the individual portraits the Founders -- what do they see? They see great men founding a great country. If you ask recent graduates of almost any American university what they see when they look at these paintings, chances are that they see something entirely different. They are apt to see rich, white males who are not great and who...

It used to be that if you went to a college-level debate tournament, the students you’d see would be bookish future lawyers from elite universities, most of them white. In matching navy blazers, they’d recite academic arguments for and against various government policies. It was tame, predictable, and, frankly, boring. No more. These days, an increasingly diverse group of participants has transformed debate competitions, mounting challenges to traditional form and content by incorporating personal experience, performance, and radical politics. These “alternative-style” debaters have achieved success, too, taking top honors at national collegiate tournaments over the past few years. But this...

Race has arrived on the front doorstep of Towson University, and it’s a package no one wants to open. This fall Matthew Heimbach, a student at the public university in the Baltimore suburbs proposed starting a white student union. His calls attracted immediate attention; with his cloudy but very emphatic views on race, he’s excellent at courting publicity for the 21,000-student university. It might have been but another in the long line of incidents of campus racism that pop up every few years around the country. Young people who imagine themselves political provocateurs or satirists have defended their “ghetto themed”...

According to the University System of Maryland, which monitors crime on campus, Towson University has the lowest crime statistics. Despite an increase in enrollment, violent crimes are down almost 38%. Some students fear Heimbach’s beliefs more than an actual criminal. “I felt very safe, but when I heard about this, I was like, `Well, now I can’t walk alone. I have to find a guy friend to walk me back to my dorm,’” said Alexandra Gainous. In response to the white student union crime patrol, university officials say, “We do not encourage the general public to take the law into...

Towson University has fired an adjunct professor who used a racial slur in class. Professor Allen Zaruba told 11 News he shouldn't have used the term to refer to himself during a class. But he said he believes the university went too far in firing him. ~snip~

TOWSON, Md. (WJZ)– A controversial proposal from a Towson University student is opening up old wounds. A student organization is planning to start a “White Student Union”. Matthew Heimbach’s reasoning can be found in the college newspaper where he says white students deserve an exclusive club only for them. Inside this week’s Towson University newspaper, Heimbach is seen holding a Confederate flag in front of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church in Montgomery, Ala. He says: “We want to replicate what every student union does on campus.” His solution: Start a White Student Union. “I don’t know why anyone would want...

A controversial proposal from a Towson University student is opening up old wounds. A student organization is planning to start a “White Student Union”. Matthew Heimbach’s reasoning can be found in the college newspaper where he says white students deserve an exclusive club only for them. “I don’t know why anyone would want to start that. It doesn’t really make sense,” Kelsey Ports, a junior at Towson University, said. In the article, Heimbach says there is a black student union that promotes their heroes and he wants to do the same. This isn’t Heimbach’s first attempt to start a controversial...

...Towson University won the 2014 Cross Examination Debate Association's national championship. Towson defeated the University of Oklahoma. What was Towson's strategy? Inexplicably using the N-word over and over again in an incomprehensible tirade. Here is an actual excerpt (with profanity redacted). See if you are able to tell what Towson is arguing in favor or against: They say the n*****s always already qu***, that's exactly the point! It means the impact is that the that the is the impact term, uh, to the afraid, uh, the, that it is a case term to the affirmative because, we, uh, we're saying...

IN THE polished halls of academia, it’s known as “intrusive caring.’’ The objects of this attention are shaky students — often minorities from weak high schools — who are shown a straight path to graduation if they care to follow it. Towson University in Maryland raised intrusive caring to an art form in the last decade. Along the way, it wiped out the graduation gap between white and minority students. The trustees of the University of Massachusetts were amply impressed. Last week, they named Towson president Robert Caret to head the five-campus University of Massachusetts system. His role in raising...

WHEN GOV. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. took off his sport coat and sat on a rail in a Towson University lecture hall Tuesday, I figured I was in for a treat. No, not because of the brouhaha between the governor and this paper that has been going on for weeks. That will probably be resolved soon, perhaps even without any faces being punched or noses being broken. I was there so that -- in the event that Ehrlich said anything right -- I'd be able to report it. And he said plenty that was right. "How many of you are...

During a visit to Towson University Tuesday afternoon, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich commented on the recent media controversy surrounding his relations with the Baltimore Sun and reviewed the events of the 2004 presidential election. In professor Richard Vatz’s Persuasion class, Ehrlich explained his decision to ban state employees from speaking to two Baltimore Sun journalists. “[The Sun] does not have a constitutionally-protected right to commit gross negligence on the front page,” Ehrlich told reporters after the class. On Thursday, Nov. 16, the governor’s press office ordered government staff not to speak with David Nitkin, the State House Bureau Chief, or...