Vito Perrone is out of a job. The incoming Massachusetts school superintendent was ready to start as head of Easthampton Schools when scandal struck. No, it was not embezzlement or some stalking charge as principal of Easthampton High School where he previously served with distinction for eight years. Perrone made the unpardonable error of sending an email to Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby, executive assistant to the committee, that referred to them as “ladies.” What is most interesting about the outrage of Kwiecinski and Colby at being sent such a greeting is that it is considered a “microaggression,” but in this case had a decidedly macro impact.
Perrone was offered the position as the head of Easthampton Schools on March 23. He was willing to take the job despite it being $14,000 less than his existing job. However, Perrone wrote to Kwiecinski and Colby to seek more sick days and possibly a bump in living adjustment costs or compensation. He began the note with the greeting of “Ladies,” which Kwiecinski and Colby reportedly found deeply offensive.
Perrone recounted how Kwiecinski told him that using “ladies” as a greeting is hostile and derogatory and constitutes a microaggression. She reportedly added that “the fact that he didn’t know that as an educator was a problem.” He was then informed that the job offer had been withdrawn following a vote.
Perrone was devastated and said that “This job was not about the money for me. I honestly felt like I was coming home to Easthampton. I coached football here. I was principal here when we built the school. I have such wonderful memories … I was excited to come back.”
What is most striking is the macro impact of the microaggression in this case. We have previously discussed the growing list of microaggressive language deemed inappropriate at colleges and universities. From a free speech perspective, the concern is that this category of prescribed language is often ill-defined and subjective, including seating decisions or eye-contact. Mount Holyoke College’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion added new terms to the list with a guide on social media listing “fatphobic language” that will now be deemed microaggressive.
It is now common for universities to list offensive terms to be avoided by faculty and students, as we have previously discussed at schools like Michigan, James Madison, and Berkeley. Brandeis issued a list of “oppressive” words that include such expressions as “killing two birds with one stone” and “beating a dead horse.” However, the school did not issue a trigger warning because “trigger warning” is now on the list as . . . well . . . triggering.
Recently, the University of North Texas lost a critical motion in a free speech case brought by Mathematics Professor Nathaniel Hiers after his contract was not renewed due to his criticism of the school’s microaggression policies.
I have had debates over my opposition to how microaggression policies have been used to limit free speech and target dissenting voices on campuses. Advocates for these policies often struggle to clearly define them. They were originally deemed as a category of speech that fell below outright discriminatory or hateful language. However, the language was still considered “harmful” or not helpful. In the past, I was told that microaggression policies are not free speech concerns because they are not treated as seriously as outright discriminatory language.
It is now apparently enough to lose a job in a single greeting. I have no problem with Kwiecinski and Colby objecting that they do not want to be called “ladies.” However, there are generations (including my own) where this greeting was accepted as a standard expression of respect. There is no evidence that Perrone meant to insult or belittle these two women. Indeed, he was actively negotiating with them on employment compensation.
If microaggressions are going macro, the distinction between the categories of discriminatory language and microaggressive language is largely illusory for teachers and students. That would mean that a much wider array of speech could be subject to sanctions.
‘Sup beeyotches!
Next time try “Dear Birthing Units” it does have a nice ring to it.
The insanity is increasing.
I object to insane people being left in positions of power or authority, especially over other’s children.
It’s insane, don’t tell me it isn’t.
He should have just started with “Look, phuckers, I want additional compensation…” He wouldn’t be any less unemployed and he’d feel better. It’s not too late to be impolite to those stupid broads, either.
Ginger or Mary Ann? We have a winner!
Great comment.
I can understand how Cynthia Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby could be offended by being called “ladies.” The term “ladies” refers to “women” or to “women of superior social position.”
But since Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby only possess names commonly given to women, and are otherwise totally classless, elevating such substandard creatures to the level of “ladies” could be deeply traumatic and offensive. Consequently, the following video does not apply to them:
“There ain’t nothing like a dame”
I use the term “ladies” often, from a classically respectful place, to young and old. So far, so good…. but this is some scary stuff!
Clay: Good for you.
And when men make “classically respectful” gestures for/to me, I regularly thank them for “being such a gentleman.” Not a single one has ever scowled or shown disdain for my comment; indeed, QUITE the contrary.
I CAN’T stand when coppers call a shooter , murderer , or every single person that they apprehend for violence , a gentleman . It happens the time on the evening news .
“Kwiecinski and Colby objecting that they do not want to be called “ladies.””
They are right. They are not.
Was there any indication as to what their preferred way to be addressed?
Beria would get it. He put plenty of saints in the gulag because he understood a regime of terror needs to remind the people every day that it’s not about truth or justice. It’s solely about the power to do anything to anybody even for absurd reasons or no reason at all.
Today, a former President was arraigned on trumped-up charges while the current President’s felonious son roams at large, bullying his accusers. Hundreds languish in prison because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time on J6.
This school superintendent got off light. He only lost his job.
How bad does it have to get, you stupid people? This will only get worse if swing voters don’t wake up.
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar… T.S. Elliot
God help us, we’ve lost our minds.
The Silence of the Lambs
That symbolic poem does not have to be what is.
Instead, for the love of all things good, sound your barbaric yawp!
Do not let these terrible visions come to pass.
https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4
Well, it is safe to say they definitely are not ladies. Good thing Mr. Perrone learned that before he got there.
Wow! Those two broads are nuts. Oh wait…
Pbbbbbblt. That is all I have left to say to American left, and all they deserve. You are all special ed children, not enlightened scholars, and you can pretty much get bent. The rest of us will run the world without you just fine. Go away.
Vito. Is a great guy. We all hope he stays here in town at his old job. He always showed up at high school sporting events and student functions. Here’s hoping Vito finishes out his career in our town where he is greatly appreciated.
Professor, I was admonished by one of your Tulane colleagues many years ago for calling him “sir”. I thought to myself, “Sorry professor for trying to show you the respect you deserve as a full professor of law.” I self- censored though. He taught me more about self-censoring than about voting rights and Con Law.
Don’t call me sir, I work for a living.
I hope Mr. Perrone has already hired a good attorney to file the appropriate lawsuit and bring more attention to this nonsense while the schools who promote this insanity pay a significant financial and social cost.
OT
Professor Turley is astonishingly and incomprehensibly OFF TOPIC today.
Waiting for someone to show them what *real* aggression looks like. I wonder if ‘they’ will make the connection.
My, my…….I’ve noticed a striking abscence of our Lefty bloggers today. Where have all the wokey dokes gone???
answer: Gone to televised TDS, every one,
Cindy Bragg: I laughed at your response to yourself, thanks, and I started laughing again as I write this.
(I’m thinking you were satirizing “Where have all the flowers gone?” Peter, Paul, and Mary? Either way, funny funny.)
“I’m thinking you were satirizing “Where have all the flowers gone?” Peter, Paul, and Mary?”
Yes! Correct! And congratulations! You have just won a Chrysler Cordoba!!!!
LOL 🙂
I was talking just this morning with a colleague ( we are both in our 70’s) and she mentioned she had heard or read that more Federal Judges are putting the policy in place that they will no longer consider Yale and Stanford Law school graduates seeing positions.
I have written here in Turley’s blog that I encourage alumni, in particular the wealthy who contribute heavily or those who support Endowments, to revoke their support for their school until such time as the university/college actively seeks to abandon the implementation of First Amendment free speech denying which has taken root in recent years and decades. Terminate the Office of D.I.E. personnel, just for starters. Evaluate university Presidents, VPs, other important officials, and weed out those who have helped turn the university into a place where opposing viewpoints are not tolerated.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
RIchard Lowe: While I appreciate your sincere and worthy recommendation, I believe that students (and others) will not know or appreciate any cessation of funds without an accompanying statement from prior donors/contributors explaining WHY donations are being terminated. Otherwise, they may feel self-fulfilled and save some $$$, but no one would appreciate their courage. Perhaps taking out space in a national periodical or institutional publications, all signatories united in their reason(s), to call attention to the issue? I dunno….
(p.s., that’s why I appreciate the good professor’s blog site so much; he informs us of issues we may otherwise not have known about, and makes us refine our opinions about those issues.)
Why fo they do it? Because the Democrats on the school board and in Washington give them the power to do it. Hopefully power given will soon be taken away. Depriving a man of his ability to make a living because of his beliefs is a physical act of aggression. These days their a little more nuanced. In the old days if he was a cobbler they would just cut his fingers off. Though more nuanced today the result is the same.