Texas A&M President Lets Racist Professor Keep Position
A Texas A&M professor said some radical things about race and violence toward white people. In a 2012 podcast, Prof. Tommy Curry said that “in order to be equal, in order to be liberated, some white people may have to die.” I was waiting to see how the school would defend the professor.
Here’s some of what Aggie President Michael K. Young had to say. Get a barf bag before reading further. I’ll give you some time to find one:
“The interview features disturbing comments about race and violence that stand in stark contrast to Aggie core values – most notably those of respect, excellence, leadership and integrity – values that we hold true toward all of humanity.”
Here’s the kicker:
“The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of others to offer their personal views, no matter how reprehensible those views may be. It also protects our right to freedom of speech which I am exercising now.”
If Texas A&M “stand[s] against the advocacy of violence, hate, and killing,” then why is Prof. Curry not at least under administrative leave?
Can you imagine what the response would have been if a professor had said something disparaging about homosexuals or transgenders? The professor would have been on the first flight to Borneo.
Consider the recent story about Paul Griffiths, Warren professor of Catholic theology at Duke Divinity School, who is resigning rather than face “disciplinary measures for criticizing a ‘Racial Equality Institute’ training program.” (American Thinker).
He sent an email to his colleagues that included the following: “Don’t waste your time by [attending this training program]. It’ll be, I predict with confidence, intellectually flaccid: there’ll be bromides, cliches, and amen-corner rah-rahs in plenty. When it gets beyond that, its illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies will show.”
He was expressing his honest opinion. He did not disparage anyone’s race or sex.
A President of a major university should know the meaning and context of the First Amendment. The First Amendment is what Congress can and cannot do. That’s why it begins with “Congress shall make no law. . .” It has nothing to do with the hiring or firing of professors based on “disturbing comments about race and violence that stand in stark contrast to Aggie core values.” Especially when there seems to be the approval of killing white people or at least looking the other way when white people are killed.
Firing Prof. Curry would not violate his First Amendment right of freedom of speech since he could continue to speak elsewhere unhindered. A person’s right to freedom of the press is not abridged if a publishing company refuses to publish an author’s book. The author can self-publish.
Some would consider Prof. Curry’s comments to be “fighting words,” which are not protected by the First Amendment. I’m surprised that liberal snowflake students at Texas A&M are not calling for safe spaces after hearing Prof. Curry’s comments. They’ve done it when conservative speakers have been invited to campuses to speak.
The only thing that will make a difference at Texas A&M is if (1) donors to the school make a fuss and (2) the football team has a losing season. Then you’ll really see action taken by the President. Until sane supporters of the school speak up, this type of nonsense will continue. Parents thinking of sending their children to Texas A&M take notice.
What’s really going on? The President is fearful of a tiny minority of black students behaving badly if the firing takes place. It seems that universities are fearful of offending today’s perceived Social Justice Warriors and the disruptions they bring with them. Like what’s happening at the University of California Santa Cruz, home of the Banana Slugs:
“University of California Santa Cruz administrators recently agreed to meet to all four demands lodged by a black student group who commandeered a campus building and would not leave until their conditions were met.
“But in addition to the four initial stipulations, the group made three other demands to the university, and it has warned UC Santa Cruz that it has four months to comply with these demands or ‘more Reclamations’ will result.
“After three days of occupation by students of Kerr Hall, Chancellor George Blumenthal agreed to give all black and Caribbean-identified students a 4-year housing guarantee to live in the Rosa Parks African American Themed House; bring back the building’s lounge; paint its exterior the ‘Pan-Afrikan colors’ of red, green and black; and force all new incoming students to go through a mandatory diversity competency training.”
Once a University President cowers in fear of reprisals or gives into the above type of demands, the reprisals and demands keep coming.