Professor Harassed and Vandalized After He Dared Criticized Leftist Bias

A professor named Samuel Abrams wrote an op-ed in the New York Times.  Good thing he has tenure, but he might also consider security.  Abrams criticized the politically lopsided administration and its ideological homogeneity.  In his piece, he cited:

… seminars on microaggressions, understanding white privilege, and “staying woke.” It also included original research: a nationally representative survey of 900 administrators. According to this data, liberal administrators outnumber conservatives 12 to 1. This would mean the ranks of the administration are even more uniformly liberal than the faculty.

Apparently the students didn’t like having attention being drawn to these ridiculous statistics, because the student council held an “emergency meeting” to discuss this op-ed.  Then, they demanded that the president of the University, Cristle Collins Judd, reaffirm her commitment to leftist causes.  (Spoiler alert: She did.)

Soon after publication, the professor noticed his office door had demands tacked to it — including one that he resign.  However, these modern day Martin Luthers were less prolific and much more profane that their predecessor. See the door here:

An unknown person left these signs on Samuel Abram’s door today, probably in response to his @nytimes op-ed. Story to follow. pic.twitter.com/MiQR8XYnPd

— The Phoenix (@SLCPhoenix) October 16, 2018

The university president did not condemn these messages, or the fact that the vandals tore down photos of the professor’s family.  She then sent out a campus wide email that — get this — reaffirmed her “commitment to diversity and inclusive excellence.”

That would be funny if these weren’t real minds being poisoned.  She also spoke with Abrams over the phone and him of “attacking” members of the community.  (No, that’s not a typo. She accused him of that.)  Later, she suggested the professor was on the market for a job.  That was news to the professor.

“She said I had created a hostile work environment,” Abrams said.  “If [the op-ed] constitutes hate speech, then this is not a world that I want to be a part of.”

Reason magazine has more:

Abrams believes the perpetrators tried to break into his office; some of his books had fallen off their shelves as if the sign-posters had slammed the door and the walls.

“I’m really shaken,” he said.

Abrams’ dealings with Judd have further unnerved him. During their conversation, she implied that he should have cleared his public writings with her before submitting them, something he described as unacceptable.

Several of Abrams’ colleagues met with Judd to discuss the vandalism and express their view that such acts could not be tolerated. Judd agreed, but did not pledge to take any further actions. These professors thought she seemed scared that the students might hold more protests, creating a public relations disaster, according to Abrams.

This incident is an example of a concerning phenomenon: college administrators going soft on free speech in an effort to appease a handful of extremely aggressive students. Administrators should take greater care to avoid explicit ideological bias, and they must defend the free speech rights of professors who speak out against it. A college that attempts to muzzle, discourage, or rid itself of speech that offends the far left is failing its mission.

Now, that’s worth nailing to a door.

Image Credit: Twitter

Hat Tip: Reason