Louisiana State University Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Alyssa Johnson is under fire this week for asking her colleagues to create a type of listing of students who have engaged in hate speech — a list to be used to bar them from her classes. Johnson appears to see no need for due process in the creation of such a list and her meting out punishment unilaterally.
Louisiana State University issued a statement that “we are subject to constitutional limitation on our ability to take action in response to free speech.” That set off Johnson who shared the tweeted statement from the university and added a call her colleagues to “keep a list of names” of students deemed “a threat to student safety” due to their speech. She then added that “if I see them enrolled in my course, I will drop them.”
At least one colleague, Associate William Doerrler reportedly agreed and responded to the now deleted tweet with “Thank you!! If he enrolls in my class I’ll drop him too!”
After Johnson’s tweet, the university issued a statement of apology that ‘We are sorry our earlier tweet did not effectively communicate our core message and consequently alienated our students and friends.”
The university was clearly correct in meeting with “Black student leaders to pledge again that LSU will investigate and take action against all acts of racism, hostility, harassment and intimidation by students under our code of conduct.” However, it should also make clear that professors are not empowered to create their own listing of suspected or known speech violators to be barred from classes on an ad hoc basis.
Consider the implications of such an approach. University adjudicative systems would become Potemkin villages that are meaningless if individual professors pass around lists of barred students and hand out their own punishments. No charge. No hearing.
This controversy reflects the diminishing commitment of many faculty to due process values. Nothing could be a better example of that decline when academics call for ad hoc lists and unilateral punishments.
I take it, she’s not into the first ammendment.
Of course, “hate speech” never refers to those specifically state anti-Trump things like “I hate Trump! He and all his supporters are racists! None should be on any campus”.
Most of the hate speech in America today comes from Democrats. And all professors, including Prof. Turley, who support Democrats, support censorship based on hating the Republicans.
Fred Trump was in the Klan along with his wife.
The President’s name is Donald, not Fred.
Listed by whose criteria and does it include the list of hate speech professors?
This. All of this.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/10/politics/michael-flynn-prosecutor-filing/index.html
Another good example of the results of affirmative action and student loans. Black academics and their white stooges have been pushing “racism” and “hate” for decades. Why? Because they know nothing else. There are no laws in the United States defining or prohibiting “hate speech.” Such laws are prohibited by the First Amendment, which was written to prevent the very things these professors are engaging in.
Turley– “Johnson appears to see no need for due process in the creation of such a list and her meting out punishment unilaterally.”
Of course she sees no need for due process. Haven”t you been paying attention?
I have a feeling this professor has a wide definition of “hate speech” and is prepared to destroy anyone who disagrees.
Oppose BLM – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Question BLM – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Question the narrative surrounding “Blessed Martyr George Floyd” – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Question the narrative surrounding the “mostly peaceful protestors” – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Show support for the people defending their property – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Oppose the “brave masked warriors of antifa” – YOU ARE A RACIST!
Need help from some of you enlightened lefties. Am I forgetting something?
antonio
Call it The itShay List. Write it and post it on all the bathroom walls over the toilets and urinals. That way it will be seen and not heard. Or turfed.
The world of academia has gone willfully ignorant of its gross faults. Fortunately the vibrant world of active capitalism and rational thought has observed this self-righteousness on the part of cloistered and irrelevant posers and will attend to a sorely needed remedy.
You can’t claim to be a veteran until you’ve fought the battle. Be equally engaged in what one says. You may find out that you agree on lots, just not the implementations of a plan.
FREE SPEECH – Its a right- Nutty Professors who only want to hear one side. Our Colleges have lost their way.
Wonder what she’d do if the tables were turned, and all young people (regardless of color), who rioted, looted or stole in the name of George Floyd were not permitted to return to school? I and many others are fed up with unilaterally being called racist. I will befriend anyone who is polite & kind towards others, hard-working & respectful of the law and gives back to society and doesn’t just take. The rest I will ignore, but that doesn’t make me a racist or privileged, no matter who says so. If Ms Alyssa Johnson can’t see her tweet is as reprehensible as the thugs who perpetrated the crimes in the aftermath of Mr. Floyd’s death, then she should be black-listed from all teaching positions, pun intended.
are these ‘professors’ really not aware of Joe McCarthy and his legacy?
McCarthy harassed the Foreign Service, the US Information Agency, and a particular chain-of-command in the Army. This professor does not work for any of these agencies.
And, as we can see, McCarthy was right.
No, he wasted a lot of public goodwill on goose chases. He added very little to what the internal security apparatus was able to discover on its own. He also ran a dishonorable campaign of slander against Millard Tydings which incorporated distributing faked photographs all over the State of Maryland.
Absurd– Read “Blacklisted by History”.
Seriously? I make a comparison and you argue that the 2 people aren’t exactly the same???
This is not just about “due process” this is about the complete destruction of 5 centuries of western values.
These people are unqualified to teach.
I thought this list already existed on most campuses. LSU must be behind the times.
Imagine if she or people like her had real power instead of just the ability to irritate.
She spoke out impulsively, but bet that she practices hate on a regular basis.
I don’t see that it would be “punishment” to be barred from her class; it may actually be a blessing in disguise.
Unless her class is a requirement for completing your degree and graduating.