Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Free Speech On Campus? Hardly!


Several professors at the University of New Hampshire are calling for the expulsion of two counter-protesters at an anti-Trump rally on campus.

Courtney Marshall, a former professor at UNH, posted a picture of the counter protesters on Facebook the day after the incident.
Yes, those are Harambe and Richard Nixon costumes.
Several current UNH professors have responded to Marshall’s post calling for action against the two students.
One of those professors is Siobhan Senier, who specializes in American and Native American literature as well as women’s studies.
In Senyeah’s message, the professor insists that the Harambe costume “is harassing, intimidating, and racist.”
Senyeah also urges UNH administration “not to take refuge behind the kind of bland ‘we’re-all-in-this-together’ line that is currently so prevalent in public discourse.”
Huh? So wait, is UNH not supposed to allow conservatives to counter-protest?

Another English lecturer by the name of Larry Beemer also apparently commented on the post, referring to the counter-protesters as “racist agitators.”

A screenshot from Campus Reform shows Larry Beemer’s name clearly attributed to the comment in question.
However, it appears Beemer has changed his name on Facebook to Winston Smith.
The comment is still there – original replies and all – attributed to Smith, which is the name of the protagonist in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.
Pictures on “Winston Smith’s” Facebook profile also match the one featured on his UNH profile.
A third UNH professor by the name of Meaghan Elliott also commented on Marshall’s post saying she’d love to see the counter-protesters punished.

The truth is, though, if the folks at UNH responsible for the original anti-Trump rally have any luck, administrators won’t look too closely at this case.

You see, while professors at the school cry foul over two peaceful counter-protesters, some investigators have done a bit of digging and found out that the folks behind the rally apparently broke some laws while organizing it.
Kevin Landrigan, the New Hampshire Union Leader, has criticized staff at the UNH Women’s Studies Program for Facebook posts that clearly show tax funds being allocated towards making signs for the event.
The posts have since been deleted, but Landrigan reports them as having said, “Our office will be open til [sic] 4:30 p.m. today so please stop on by and make your own poster. If you want to make signs but need supplies, feel free to stop in to Huddleston 203 for paper/markers etc.”

What’s more, an email from WikiLeaks shows a UNH higher-up contacting John Podesta himself asking how he might be “helpful” from his “perch in New Hampshire.”

Image: WikiLeaks Screenshot
Image: WikiLeaks Screenshot
In the email, Michael Ettlinger – the higher-up in question – proposes several workarounds to that pesky law that states, “no recipient of a grant or appropriation of state funds may use the state funds to… participate in political activity, or contribute funds to any entity engaged in these activities.”
Yeah, but let’s focus on the peaceful protesters in funny costumes, right?

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