I have previously written, as a long supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), about my concern over how the venerable group has changed under its current leadership, including a departure from its long robust defense of free speech. Recently, the ACLU has abandoned its famed neutrality and has not supported some on the right while supporting those on the left. Now, the ACLU’s Samuel Crankshaw in Kentucky has targeted Transylvania University for admitting Nick Sandmann, who was falsely accused of abusing a Native American activist in front of Lincoln Memorial. (Crankshaw identifies as an ACLU staffer on social media) Despite various media organizations correcting the story and some settling with Sandmann, some in the media have continued to attack him. Yet, it is far more alarming to see an ACLU official rallying people against a young man whose chief offense appears to be that he is publicly (and unapologetically) conservative and pro-life.
Crankshaw went to Facebook to alert people that Sandmann would be attending the college and expressing veiled outrage that the school would admit someone with his opposing views. He warns that this kid is “more dangerous” than figures like Milo Yiannopolous. The “danger” is that a young freshman holds conservative views that are shared by roughly half of this country:
Does anyone else think it’s a bit of a stain on Transylvania University for accepting Nick Sandman? I’m sure it’s a “both sides” defense, but it’s pretty counter to their mission and another instance of there not actually being equal sides to an issue. I think TU should accept anyone willing to have an open mind and engage in debate, regardless of their views. That’s how we all learn. That’s Transy’s mission…
Having experienced the incredibly high standards Transy requires for admission and then holds its students to, this seems like a slap in the face. I hope some time in a real classroom changes him, but his twitter and public persona suggest otherwise.
The “both sides” defense used to be the position of the ACLU in fighting for all sides to be given equal opportunities and protections. Moreover Crankshaw labels Sandmann a “provocateur in training with no intention of learning.” Putting aside the provocateur label how would Crankshaw know that Sandmann has “no intention of learning”?
While the statement is from someone who expressly identifies as an ACLU staffer on social media, it is not a statement from the ACLU itself. Yet, the sentiment reflects the growing concern over the new direction of the ACLU and the shift away from neutrality in the support of free speech rights.
Later Crankshaw responded to the National Review and said “The views I expressed on my Facebook page are my personal views that I shared on my personal time. I have a First Amendment right to express them just as Nick Sandmann has a First Amendment right to express his.” Of course, none of us doubted that Sandmann has first amendment rights. The suggestion of his posting was that the university should have barred the admission of Sandmann due to his views. Indeed, he was expressing outrage that Sandmann was allowed to attend such an institution of higher education. While we have been discussing the intolerance for opposing views expressed at colleges, Crankshaw apparently does not even want to see people like Sandmann allowed into college.
One person responding positively was Dr. Avery Tompkins, an Assistant Professor and Diversity Scholar at Transylvania University, acknowledged that the university supported diverse viewpoints but promised to closely monitor Sandmann while he is on campus: “If he were to cause problems by being disruptive, trolling, or engaging in unethical behavior of any kind, I would immediately document it (just like I would for any student doing the same thing)…and he would just be putting himself in a position for me to file a conduct report.”
Doing the same thing? What thing? Free speech?
Rather than say that there is no reason why this conservative student should be singled out in this way, Tompkins declares publicly “I get where you are coming from.” Where would that be? Cranksaw was coming from a place where a wrongly accused conservative teenager will be harassed or targeted for daring to take his views to a college.
I appreciate Tompkins noting that students cannot be denied admission based on their political views, though that was once assumed. Yet, Tompkins labels this incoming freshman as part of an anti-intellectual movement and publicly assumes that Sandmann will reject core principles of learning. This is a freshman being publicly shredded by a professor at his school. Tompkins then expresses the same uncertainty why this student would pick a university dedicated to higher education and “the antithesis of what he belies and promotes.”
Despite Tompkins later apology, Cranksaw responded that her stated hostility and bias toward this student is precisely what wants to see in higher education and “why [Transylvania University] is a great place to learn.”
Cranksaw was describing the exercise of free speech by someone with opposing views as unacceptable. Tompkins responds that she will be closely watching him. Both single out this one students for such added scrutiny and Cranksaw thanks Tompkins for the assurance of close monitoring. I have repeatedly defended the views of liberal academics attacking police, Trump, and a wide array of conservative causes. These are statements made outside of the school. Here, however, Tompkins is speaking as an academic, acting a specific students, and promising to monitor his conduct. That is deeply problematic.
Sandmann like all college students should feel greater freedom in expressing their views at colleges, not being closely monitored as someone with dangerous thoughts and ideas. That fact that figures in the ACLU and academia would publicly espouse such views of intolerance is a chilling example of how our faith in free speech has eroded in the recent years.
Transylvania University has responded to my inquiry with the following statement:
A college campus is a place where the wide variety of backgrounds, experiences and opinions of the community — students, staff, faculty and alumni — meet. Transylvania, like nearly every campus, is composed of those holding the full range of viewpoints.These differences often form the backbone of a vibrant and challenging educational experience. In this place of divergence, we strive to foster dialogue and listen to each other with generosity and a presumption of goodwill in the pursuit of understanding.
The goal of a liberal arts education is to give students the skills and ability to engage in encounters that may cause them to reflect and think differently or to understand and validate their original belief or viewpoint. In either case, the exposure to the ideas, individuals and diverse viewpoints and the subsequent reflection is the critical aspect.
There are two things that, as a university, we are not able to discuss: our students (without their permission) and personnel matters. In response to posts on social media and other websites over the Labor Day weekend, we reiterate that point. A review of the situation will be conducted expeditiously by the appropriate university officials.
Second Update:
Professor Tompkins has now issued an apology:
I want to apologize for my mistake in singling out a student and any misunderstandings that arose from that. One of my favorite things about working at a liberal arts institution is that the University community has diverse perspectives. All students, faculty, and staff are able to engage in civil discourse with those whose views may be different from their own, and to learn about those views in an academic setting. I value and support these conversations with students, and I know that students value these conversations with their peers as well.
Look at what the Left does with whatever power they have, whether it’s a following on social media, a cause célèbre, a Hollywood platform, or a position in the FBI. They abuse that power in order to persecute conservatives or enact social change. They riot. Loot. They try to ruin a young man’s life because he wore a MAGA hat on TV. Now the Left doesn’t want him to go to college, either.
Shall we all wear armbands? We’ve seen how this goes, before. If the Left rises to power, taking the White House and both Houses of Congress on the promise of giving money from the treasury to voters, will they be as vigorous in squashing dissent as the Nazis, Fascists, and Lenin?
If there’s anything the hard Left can’t stand, it’s a conservative happily going about his life unmolested, speaking his mind, and being successful.
Karen, the Right shoots Mexican-Americans in El Paso and Jews in Pittsburgh. If there is any thing the Right can’t stand it’s Jews and Mexican Americans happily going about their lives unmolested and being successful.
and the left murders right wingers in Portland
Thanks for the fiction. Always an education.
Art, sorry you’re too dense to appreciate parody.
Facecrime is Wrongthink.
‘I Keep My Promises,’ Trump Said. Let’s Check.
Here’s a report card on whether the president met his 2016 campaign pledges.
By Nicholas Kristof
Sept. 5, 2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/opinion/sunday/trump-promises-check.html
“Unlike so many who came before me, I keep my promises.” (speech, Feb. 4, 2020)
Well, no. -Kristof
anonymous posters tossing in some irrelevant anti trump dreck. thanks for checking in
Thank you, Dr. Turley. Very impressed. I greatly appreciate this successful battle for free speech. I’m very conservative, and we probably don’t agree on a lot, but I’ll be adding your blog to my reading list. We need fair scholars like yourself because in the era of “boutique journalism,” confirmation bias is huge problem. I hope more people follow your blog–both liberals and conservatives.
“Transylvania University is committed to providing a workplace and educational environment, as well as other benefits, programs, and activities, that are free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.”
“Transylvania University values and upholds the equal dignity of all members of its community”
“The Office of Diversity and Inclusion strongly believes that we have an obligation to create the best educational environment possible for students whose lives will be significantly changed during their time at Transy.
ODI would love your support and involvement as we strive to make Transylvania University into a global leader of inclusive excellence. We are grateful for the many who are dedicated to this on-going process, and look forward to our continued successes.”
Well that was one hell of a start wasn’t it!
That’s funny tune to be singing from Lexington Kentucky but hey. The grant money is big and they got their hat out for donations from Big Geo and the Open Society foundations.
As a 1974 grad of Transylvania U, I have always been proud of my school. Not any more. Transy is the 16th oldest university in the US. (1780) Graduates included Stephen F Austin, Jeff Davis (transferred to West Point), John Hunt Morgan (kicked out for dueling), Happy Chandler, and a multitude of others. I will always value the excellent liberal arts education I received, but things have changed since I was there. This is what I wrote on the Transy fb page.
As a 1974 grad of Transy, I would say that the University is going in the wrong direction. I received a remarkable education there, but it sounds like the school has been caught up in the current education silliness. You want to vindicate yourself, adopt the University of Chicago Statement. I will not contribute any more funds until you do so.
What might be fun is for some Transy students to call for Dr. Tompkins’ resignation as “he” has setup an unsafe situation for “his” students. I mean tit for tat, right?
To get over that “legacy of slavery” by association with Jeff Davis, they will have to rename it “Tranny U” –not sure if that will satisfy BLM but let the sucking up to the weasels and anarchists begin
Now West Point has a got a real pickle on its hands with the likes of esteemed graduates like Stonewall Jackson. And VMI where he was a perfesser, Oh, poor VMI. they have been trashed for decades now
So speaketh an elitist lawyer.
This is how fascism takes over. Little by little.
“Mile Markers of Tyranny: Losing Our Freedoms on the Road from 9/11 to COVID-19”
By John W. Whitehead
September 08, 2020
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/mile_markers_of_tyranny_losing_our_freedoms_on_the_road_from_9_11_to_covid_19
And this — what follows? It’s going on all over the country.
“Pasco’s sheriff created a futuristic program to stop crime before it happens.”
“It monitors and harasses families across the county.”
https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/intelligence-led-policing/
‘They swarm homes in the middle of the night, waking families and embarrassing people in front of their neighbors. They write tickets for missing mailbox numbers and overgrown grass, saddling residents with court dates and fines. They come again and again, making arrests for any reason they can.
‘One former deputy described the directive like this: “Make their lives miserable until they move or sue.”’
From the article, above, on ILP:
“In Pasco, however, the initiative has expanded. Last summer, the Sheriff’s Office announced plans to begin keeping tabs on people who have been repeatedly committed to psychiatric hospitals.
“The Times shared its findings with the Sheriff’s Office six weeks before this story published. Nocco declined multiple interview requests.”
It’s a slippery slope. They’re going after people for some very arbitrary reasons — people who are law-abiding.
They’ll “keep tabs” on anyone they choose. It may be someone they simply don’t like. And they’re using criminals (and others) in their harassment.
I guess Whitehead does some good work but I tire of all this liberterian schtick. Hello. The government is a tool. Bad guys use it or good guys do. But the tool is never going away.
You will never stuff the government genie back in the bottle. You might as well be complaining about crossbows and guns ruining the good old days of cavalry charges by armored knights.
I tend to be there with you. On paper, I’m probably a libertarian, but their actual policy stances are far too unrealistic as a means to actual change. I have found that places like reason.com simply harangue both sides rather than offering any meaningful insight on how to move the gov’t in a smaller direction. It’s easy to be pure and denounce others who aren’t. I don’t need that.