A battle is brewing at Rutgers University in New Jersey that puts a spotlight on the ideological divide in higher education.
To recap, the Turning Point USA chapter at the school launched a petition calling for the removal of professor Mark Bray, an ally of Antifa who wrote the ‘handbook’ on Antifa. Bray claimed that this made him the target of threats and fled the U.S. for Europe. Then progressives at Rutgers began calling for the removal of the Turning Point USA chapter at the school.
Now the school administration has been dragged into the fight and they are spinning it by claiming to be defenders of academic freedom.
FOX News reports:
Rutgers chancellor launches safety review, ‘academic freedom’ task force amid ‘Dr Antifa’ uproarThe chancellor of Rutgers University said the institution is committed to academic freedom and will be launching a safety review and “academic freedom” task force amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Antifa-aligned professor Mark Bray.”I write today to reaffirm Rutgers University’s unwavering commitment to academic freedom and freedom of expression—values that define a great research university and underpin our mission of discovery, dialogue, and public engagement,” Rutgers Chancellor Francine Conway wrote in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.”Incidents involving ‘doxing’ and harassment of faculty members understandably raise deep concerns across our community,” Conway wrote. “I want to express my support for any member of our community who has been targeted for their scholarship.”…In her statement, Conway said she has directed Rutgers’ chief of police and chief information technology officer to review protocols for both physical and digital safety on campus…”Free speech and academic freedom do not shield any of us from disagreement or critique,” Conway wrote. “At Rutgers, we encourage open and robust debate—even on the most controversial topics. Yet, the appropriate response to speech we oppose is more speech, not actions that seek to intimidate or threaten the personal safety of others.”
Megyn Doyle, a student and member of TPUSA, made her case during a recent appearance on Real America’s Voice:
In this clip, another student named Ava Kwan claims that after she and other TPUSA members were doxxed, the university began investigating them:
Like many other schools, Rutgers has seen a rise in antisemitic sentiment on campus since the October 7th attacks. Is anyone at the school investigating the student groups behind this?
A group of professors at Columbia of all places, recently wrote an op-ed for the Columbia Spectator, denouncing what they call an ‘attack’ on professor Bray, and claiming to defend academic freedom:
We recognize in the case of Rutgers historian Mark Bray a threat to us allWe, the undersigned historians at Columbia University and Barnard College, write to express our profound dismay at the events involving historian Professor Mark Bray, a scholar of anti-fascist political movements at Rutgers University. After he was targeted by the Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA, Professor Bray and his family members received death threats, and his home address was circulated online. Afraid for his safety and that of his family, he and his partner, Professor Yesenia Barragan, a fellow historian who received her PhD from Columbia, left the United States with their children.To our knowledge, this is the first case in recent memory of a historian who has fled the country after receiving death threats on account of the history that they teach. It represents not just an attack on Professor Bray and his family on a personal level but also on academic freedom in general, and, as such, it has implications for all faculty, including those of us who teach at Barnard and Columbia.
Progressives, who think nothing of the suppression of conservative voices on campus, suddenly become champions of academic freedom and freedom of speech when one of their own is called out by students.
If the left believes so strongly in this, does that mean that Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, and other conservative figures can now speak on college campuses without sparking a riot? I’m guessing no.
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