There is a controversy at Eastern Maine Community College after a professor reportedly attacked a Christian conservative student for writing an essay about gun control. Katherine Parker accused English instructor Carol Lewandowski of engaging in raw political bias and then receiving no support from the community college.
Parker was asked to complete a persuasive speech paper in response to an editorial. She chose an editorial by columnist Douglas Rooks in the Portland Press Herald entitled, “Maine Legislature derelict in its duty on ‘red flag’,” criticizing Democratic leaders for failing to hold a hearing on a bill for a new “red flag” law.
While agreeing with Rooks that a hearing was a good idea, Parker opposed the red flag law.
After submitting the draft to Lewandowski for feedback, Parker said that she was told to change topics and was ridiculed over her religious and political beliefs. Lewandowski made reference to Parker’s earlier essay in support of her Christian faith in mocking her position on gun rights.
Lewandowski told Parker to “avoid proselytizing with logical fallacies in a college class” — treating her support for the Second Amendment as such a “logical fallacy.” She then added “Wasn’t your former speech a testimony to finding Jesus. Did Jesus pack heat?”
Lewandowski then dismissed her views and told her to pick a different topic because Parker’s views were unacceptable to her:
“I find this 2nd amendment nonsense exhausting and highly recommend you choose a different topic since this one is not one I can easily grade, given my own disdain for the misinterpretations of the second amendment…Hate to tell ya, but guns DO kill….You clearly do not care about people as much as you care about guns. Your argument is a solid representation of that. For fairness to you and to me, please choose another topic.”
The community college professor continued to heap insults on the student: “And think again about Jesus packing heat. Really. You and your ilk drive me nuts with your hypocrisy. Guns kill. Own it.”
When Parker objected to Lewandowski, the professor again told her to change topics and suggested that she take up any complaints with the department chair and the dean (who were cc’ed on the email).
“Please change your topic as I earlier requested as this is a trigger issue for me. No pun intended…I admit I cannot assess the gun issue objectively.”
One would think that such an abusive and politically biased attack on a student would result in the termination of the professor. However, Parker alleges that the community college did not seem inclined to take action against Lewandowski.
Parker says that she spoke to EMCC Dean of Academics Lynn Hunter, who “assured me that discrimination was not tolerated at the community college, but she did not give me a clear answer when I asked her how she felt about what the teacher said to me — she assured me that she would be getting both sides of the story.”
While she says that Hunter “apologized for what I was going through,” there is no evidence of disciplinary action against Lewandowski.
Dr. Lesley Gillis, Chair, English & Co-Chair, Liberal Studies was also cc’ed on the email.
Such abuse of a student over political and religious views should result in the termination of the professor. However, we have seen a high-level of toleration (and even support for) anti-conservative and anti-Republican positions by faculty. That includes teachers in Maine calling for Trump supporters to be “taken out.”
It is now common to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating “detonating white people,” denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. One professor who declared that there is “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence as killing conservatives was actually promoted.
At the same time, there is little tolerance for conservatives targeted for controversial statements against the left.
We have not heard directly from Professor Lewandowski, but these communications are shocking. If true, the failure of the community college to take action immediately against Lewandowski is a chilling reminder of how higher education has lost its moorings. By retaining Lewandowski, the college is not just allowing but facilitating such abuse of students.
More importantly, this type of raw political bias and abuse does not occur outside of an enabling culture. Lewandowski not only felt that she had a license to oppose a religious or conservative student, but cc’ed her superiors to show Parker that she had little concern over any disciplinary response.
This is a teacher who has clearly stated that she finds opposing sides “triggering” and cannot grade papers which advance views with which she has “disdain.” A mere shrug and apology is hardly sufficient.
Lewandowski is listed as an instructor, though some publications refer to her as the head of the department. That position appears to be held by Gillis.
Indeed, it is not just Lewandowski’s conduct that should be reviewed but also the alleged conduct (or lack of response) from Gillis and Hunter.
What happened to this student is the very antithesis of the values supporting higher education. Roughly half of citizens in Maine are gun owners. Many are religious. They should feel that they can attend their community college without being ridiculed over their religious and political beliefs. That is why the Maine legislature should look into this controversy if the school fails to do so. The citizens of Maine support this school system and students like Parker often have to make sacrifices to attend these schools. They deserve better than what Parker faced in this course.
If you are into Jesus, then it is assumed that you like children, like Jesus did,
If so, and if being Christ-like is so important to you, then you should be opposed to Putin, because, as of November 2024, Putin has killed and injured 2,406 children.
Would you like to see an end to the child-killing, or would you like to see it continue?
Trump took action to stop Syrian children from being gassed by Bashar al Assad.
Trump should do something similar to save Ukrainian children from Putin.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/28/europe/gallery/ukraine-girl-killed
“Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”- Matthew 19:13-14
“‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven… If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’” – Matthew 18:2-6
“He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.’”- Mark 9:36-37
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”- Matthew 18:10
“In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.”- Matthew 18:14
“And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.” – Mark 10:16
“But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, ”From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praise’’?” – Matthew 21:15-16
Have a nice day!
Was your lobotomy painful?
“If you are into Jesus, then it is assumed that you like children”
Of course, @$$h@t$ that you support, like Zelinskyy and his Azov Nazi buddies, would never lay a hand on a child (unless it was for purposes of molestation, possibly). Did you need to take lessons to become such a despicable hypocrite, it was it a genetically derived talent?
Wondering what your stance on abortion is.
“It is now common to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating “detonating white people,””
When do those heroic professors plan to come forth into the land of ~500MM (estimates vary) privately owned firearms to translate their rhetoric to action? I assure you that I am ready for that. I’m equally certain that they are not. Are you?
Based on over 2000 years of vetting, I suspect that Jesus probably packed heart.
He also likely instructed disciples to “bear alms” for the needy.
p.s. Bravo to commenter Sam.
“p.s. Bravo to commenter Sam.”
You buried the lede. (😊)
A persuasive essay in response to an editorial. Persuasive to whom? This goes to the heart of Jonathan’s concerns that the education work product suffers when the faculty is not balanced. Here, we have “I can’t teach you because you wrote outside my envelope of capability.” That’s a judge self recusing without recusing self. No faculty balance means no correction to a good outcome. One good outcome might be this student comes out tougher with knowledge that there are stupid tollbooths on the road to education.
Violation of First and Second Amendments! Find a high powered Law Firm and get rich!
OT:
It is kind of odd that the great migration from north (and the west coast) to south and southwest is happening because many non-liberals have had enough of liberal run states and cities as proven my U-Haul tracking. However, it is strange that liberals in blue cities in the middle of red states do not abandon the red states for blue ones?? For example, people in Austin TX don’t flee to Illinois or people in Dade County FL don’t take rte 95 north to NY, NJ or MA.
The migration is only one way, why is that? Could it be that the liberals are suffering the effects of self-preservation? The leftists in blue areas of FL know deep down that the state of FL is run much better than their old state NY. They know deep down that sanctuary status is not a good thing, that no-bail is not a good thing, that men playing women’s sports is not a good thing, that public union thugs running everything including education is not a good thing.
We will continue to see people and capital leave blue states, congressional districts shrink in liberal bastions and power continue to shift the red states. One reason why the battle over immigration was being fought so insane, aggressive and unyielding by the left is that they want millions of illegals to remain in their states, regardless of costs to education, health care, police and courts and crime in general, because they need bodies for the next census.
But the bottom line is that conservative people and their capital are leaving blue areas while liberal people and their capital are remaining in red areas. This is unsustainable for blue states.
“However, it is strange that liberals in blue cities in the middle of red states do not abandon the red states for blue ones??”
That is an astute observation.
What it reveals about those D’s is that they are not serious about their (alleged) convictions — that they do not act on them. That they claim to believe certain things to please others.
That may be true. Why is it that most of these elites do not practice what they shove down our throats. Gas Stoves, Flying all over, expensive and environmentally unsound mansions, billion dollar weddings flying people to Venice, haute cuisine rather than self-sufficient farming and food production.
Let’s face it, like most progs, they secretly enjoy the fruits of capitalism – just ask them to forfeit their cell phones or custom designed refrigerators.
Of course, at the bottom of all of this is their base practice of hypocrisy. That professor was either willfully ignorant of the bill of rights or she was just ignorant – period. The last thing that she should be is a professor but it frightens me to contemplate just how many pernicious and agenda-driven agents of progressivism are out their poisoning young minds daily.
HullBobby,
I have friends and family who live in FL. The New Yorkers who have moved there will tell you they moved for the weather.
However, when you really get them talking, they will tell you they moved for the lower taxes, lower crime, lower cost of living, and how they sold their home for millions and bought a home two or even three times the size for half a million. And did I mention lower taxes?
Upstate, thanks for the great example of the point I was trying to get across. As Mama pointed out, it is just another example of the leftist hypocrisy.
HullBobby,
The really interesting point I found was that despite all the New Yorkers moving to FL, one would expect the state to flip from Red to Blue. But instead it continues to be Red and some would argue has become even more Red. Could it be these New Yorkers, who were traditionally Democrats, have actually learned something?
Upstate, you propose some interesting ideas. I believe Florida has become redder, in part because many New York Democrats who moved there have switched parties at a higher rate than the national average. But Republican growth is also being driven by other factors, including Trump’s gains among Hispanic voters and widespread dissatisfaction with Democratic policies.
We also can’t overlook that DeSantis has been a strong governor. He kept Florida safe from riots and Antifa, and he’s taken the lead on illegal immigration. Democrats moving to Florida take note of that as well, while some end up flipping, just like many longtime Floridians already have. Even a few of the IgnoLeftists who show up on this blog might change their tune if they actually lived in Florida.
The flight from blue California to red states in the Western U.S. has largely had just the opposite result. Californians have been moving out for the same reasons, but far too many retain their blue orientation and in the process have done much to turn reliably red states blue, or at least “purple”. They may leave because of the high taxes and high crime etc., but then they want the same programs and policies that resulted in California’s high taxes and high crime, etc., and their increasing numbers cause many of those same programs and policies to be enacted in the states where they landed. Colorado is a prime example. Out in the West it is called Californication.
From a constitutional view, this is somewhat similar to why it’s unconstitutional for public school (government entity) to display the Ten Commandments by itself (excluding all other religious interpretations). But it is legal and constitutional for a student (citizen) to wear any religious symbols they please or even bring their own Bible to school.
In this scenario, the student is the citizen and the professor is the government official that swore a constitutional oath of office when hired. The Government official (receiving a taxpayer salary) can’t violate the First Amendment rights of any citizen – the student.
maine the way life used to be question mark
Jesus did, of course, advise the Apostles to pack heat, at the Last Supper.
Luke 22:
35 When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, did you want anything?
36 But they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise a scrip; and he that hath not, let him sell his coat, and buy a sword.
37 For I say to you, that this that is written must yet be fulfilled in me: And with the wicked was he reckoned. For the things concerning me have an end.
38 But they said: Lord, behold here are two swords. And he said to them, It is enough
Does anyone remember when teachers/professors actually taught subject matter and left their sexual and politics leaning home?
I remember…but I am old.
“teachers/professors actually taught subject matter and left their sexual and politics leaning home?”
Well, of you paid attention for long enough, you could in many cases figure out the political bias (not any sexual deviation, as that would have cost a teacher’s job in short order), but not hiding it 100% effectively is not anywhere near the same as rubbing students’ noses in it and insisting that they do nothing to question it, as this arrogant f*ckw@d has done.
Did Jesus Pack Heat? Well, yes, according to Christian theology. He had the ability to kill by will alone. That is, he had the power to destroy anything if he had had the intent.
Guns kill? People use guns, among other things, to kill other people. And for other purposes – often to protect themselves from people with guns and criminal intent.
I’ve never yet seen a gun decide to kill anyone.
What a warped comment.
Well, that settles it. No post can survive this level of withering argumentative counterattack. Let’s all pack it in boys, she called us warped.
“Warped” comments are to be expected here and elsewhere on the topic, because it is easy and tempting to tease Jesus freaks. Mockery I save for the hard-core zealots.
Old George is correct and not warped at all.
Rusted, 132-year-old Winchester rifle found against tree in Nevada national park
https://www.foxnews.com/us/rusted-132-year-old-winchester-rifle-found-against-tree-in-nevada-national-park
Winchester Model 1873 Rifle Found and Preserved
https://home.nps.gov/articles/000/winchester-model-1873-rifle-found-and-preserved.htm
So, the rifle sat up against a tree for over 100 years. During that time, at no point did it decide to kill anyone. People lacking critical thinking skills, logic or common sense put blame on objects for the actions of others.
The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
These little people in charge of students wield their sense of power in their little fiefdoms with left wing impunity. It is always the left that can take action against being triggered while conservatives, and especially Jews these days, must take abuse after abuse without any recourse.
If you “misgender” someone, even accidentally, you will find yourself in trouble, but if you call a Jew a baby killer it is free expression as happened to an eleven year old girl at a posh school in NYC recently. The young girl, along with another Jewish youngster, we EXPELLED from the posh school for complaining about the treatment the Jews were receiving from the other students and the faculty.
On the campuses of Harvard and Columbia, and also in L.A., Jews were actually prevented from going to their libraries or classes, and even spit upon at Harvard, with the school administrators doing nothing about it. Now imagine if Blacks, gays, women or trans students were treated this way. Nope, if you even say that men shouldn’t compete in women’s sports or be in their locker rooms you will be forced to pay the price.
Trump, Bondi and Harmeet Dillon, the head of the Civil Rights Division, are doing a good job with this issue and thank heavens for that. Biden’s head of the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ was a far left anti-white activist before being nominated which sounds like a perfect appointment for the far left Biden team.
And yo know all that because you NEVER worked in education, right?
No, I know that because I am a sentient human being. I also have common sense, logic and an education that you are obviously lacking.
I have worked with educators daily while in private practice, both as colleagues and as clients. I was a user of the education system for 8 years post 12. Not impressed
Not impressed with what exactly? It is hard to glean if you are saying you are not impressed with my opinion or that you are not impressed with the education system that you were a user of.
not impressed with educators. petty tyrants with average intellects
@Carole
Yup. And though not quite universal yet, it is a indeed majority of cretins we are now talking about in education, from top to bottom.
Triggered
To be just a little bit fair to the left-wing attacks, we must remember these moronic Eastern Maine faculty were trained at colleges where the same far left faculty were their teachers. Those faculty are just as extreme, but more clever about revealing it. Their grad students must comply with local politics. Obviously among the weaker students and now the faculty at Eastern Maine CC, they become more strident in their leftist views. And more stupid about displaying it. English and social science departments are the worst at forcing compliance.
@gdonalallen
This is true. It is also why ‘school choice’ is so baffling: teachers and faculty at charters and private schools were also trained at those places. If we want to fix this, we are going to have to put focus on colleges, period (and now the lower grades, too). At the least, higher ed is populated with people that were subjected to common core, and literally nothing good came of that. 🤷🏻♂️
I’ll un-baffle you, it is much easier at a private school to get rid of a useless ideologue teacher, plus once that is accomplished you are not typically left having to gut an entire useless curriculum (and dozens more useless ideologue teachers).
“‘[T]his is a trigger issue for me. [. . .] I admit I cannot assess the gun issue objectively.’”
Guess what, “professor” (read: propagandist): That is your job!
If you can’t do your job, try a different profession. Like dog walking.
On a more serious note: I assigned those open-ended subjects all the time. Students routinely chose to defend ideas that I, personally, detested (e.g., environmentalism). If you’re a professional, you grade those papers via the following standard: Does the student present clear *arguments* for that position, while presenting clear counter-*arguments* against the opposition.
If yes, then an “A” (which I regularly gave to such papers).
Sam,
What you are in possession of, and this so-called professor lacks, is objectivity. The trait to judge a position based on the students ability to present their argument backed up with the facts they present. That is what a proper professor can and should be able to do. If they cannot, they should not be in a place of education. This so-called professor also clearly lacks professionalism in education in her abuse of the student. She should be fired.
Good on you for being a real teacher/professor.
Jesus did not ‘pack heat’, but he did want his followers to be armed to defend themselves, their families, each other & their property.
In Luke 22:36, Jesus tells his disciples to “sell your cloak and buy a sword,”.
Christians are not defenseless patsies.
Neither are they Islamists dedicated/sworn to conquer the world by the sword, kill/subjugate non-believers until ‘the entire world is for Islam only’.
Well said Professor. I once taught political science/government at a community college. I am very thankful that I moved onto another profession.
The “heat” in Jesus’ day were swords and one was used on the night of his arrest by Peter, who obviosly didn’t get much range time since he cut the ear of Malchius! He most likely wasn’t aiming for the ear as he missed by inches! If you live by the sword you’ll die by the sword!
Jonathan needs to change “hit” to “heat” in the title of this essay.
CHANGED TO HEAT!!
How did Maine become such a bastion of extreme left-wing viewpoints and policies. Look at its Governor for God’s sake!
How did this woman get elected in the first place?
In light of the White House’s current stance on holding Harvard to task for its views and policies and Harvard’s absolute intolerance for non-left-wing positions, including being LAST on the annual list of tolerance for diverse viewpoints, how does the Left continue to gain any ground ANYwhere.
Shocking —
Death to unbelievers!
“Death to unbelievers!”
On the other hand, lions 10, Christians nothing! 🦁 Here, pussycat.