UNL White Nationalist

[Moiraine]

46 minutes ago, commando said:

actually...now that i think about it....can those 3 letter agencies keep an eye on him since this administration took white supremacists off the terror watch list?

 

 

This was my very first thought.

[JJ Husker]

I just want to remind everyone that yes, he has a right to his opinion and free speech but we also have the right to hold him accountable for that opinion and speech. Remember, you can't yell fire in a crowded theatre under the guise of free speech. When this POS crosses the line of making threats (which IMO he may have already) or taking action, then these 3 letter agencies better be there in time to prevent any harm to others. Absolutely no excuses in this case. If this guy went missing tomorrow nobody would mourn the loss.

[knapplc]

Show of unity from the men's basketball team.

 

 

This is following on the heels of Coach Miles attending the rally against this nazi earlier this week.

 

 

[teachercd]

Does this guy think he is Remy from Higher Learning?

[knapplc]

University of Nebraska political theory professor Ari Kohen has this to say.  It's a long tweet thread, so I'm going to copypasta the text and put it in here as paragraphs rather than copying each individual tweet.  If you want to read the thread in situ, click the tweet.

 

 

Subsequent tweets:

 

One thing that’s become abundantly clear is that universities need to have a plan in place to deal with these issues and they need to be consistent. #UNL has a very mixed track record, not just this year but in the 10 years I’ve been here and that makes things much harder.

 

Bill Ayers was invited to speak as part of an education conference here in 2008 before the whole Sarah Palin thing—“palin’ around with terrorists’—happened; once conservatives found out he was coming to Nebraska, they freaked out, made threats, and university canceled the speech.

 

This was a huge embarrassment for the university. It’s something I haven’t forgotten and I suspect a lot of faculty feel the same; it felt like a massive selling out of academic freedom by our Chancellor at the time. Ayers was a recognized academic expert & ought to have spoken.

 

In the years between the Ayers debacle and this year’s issues, we’ve had a few other dust-ups. The one that stands out is a member of the Board of Regents suggesting that student athletes should be kicked off the team (maybe out of school) for kneeling during the national anthem.

 

There was no disciplinary action taken, thankfully, but it was shocking that an elected Regent of the university would use his position to insult students and call for them to suffer consequences for an action that is very clearly protected political speech.

 

And, of course, that same Regent had a role in the carefully orchestrated overreaction to a simple protest on campus in August, pushing a narrative, with other right wing politicians, that a graduate student ought to be removed from campus for peacefully protesting a TPUSA tabler

 

Amazingly, there are still a LOT of people who believe that, because they don’t like the grad’s speech, she ought to be punished for that speech. Giving someone the finger and calling that person a neo-fascist isn’t polite, but politeness isn’t the test we use, nor should it be.

 

The grad student has lost her teaching position, a decision by the administration that STILL hasn’t been reversed. This decision was a reversal of the original decision in the matter, which was to do nothing, because politicians—who hold the U’s purse strings—publicly freaked out

 

And the kicker: at the same time the grad student was peacefully impolitely protesting an undergrad was in Charlottesville at a white supremacy rally where he seems to have participated in beating a counter-demonstrater. He returned from VA & continues his Nazi activities in NE.

 

I’ve been aware of the Nazi undergrad since then, as he testified at a Lincoln City Council meeting (in opposition to a statement about valuing diversity, I think) with the undergrad who was protested on campus by the grad student. The U has also been aware of his activities.

 

Now the Nazi undergrad has been recorded talking to other Nazis about the virtues of violence & the video has gone viral around campus, leading to everyone learning about him and feeling worried that he’s on campus. Which has led to calls for his dismissal *for his bad opinions*.

 

And the university has, rightly, chosen to carefully monitor the threat he might pose and NOT dismiss him for speech. He hasn’t specifically threatened anyone; he just makes people uncomfortable and is generally threatening. He shouldn’t be dismissed for that.

 

This is where consistency is KEY. The grad student who gave an undergrad the middle finger & called her a “neo-facist Becky” shouldn’t have been fired from her teaching position and should be immediately reinstated. And the Nazi undergrad shouldn’t be kicked out of school either.

 

You can’t punish the peaceful protest of the grad student in August and proclaim the free speech rights of the Nazi undergrad. They both have the same free speech rights. And, of course, all of this leaves aside the DEAFENING silence of NE Senators Brewer, Halloran, and Erdman.

 

Those state senators, along with right wing hate media (locally and nationally), participated in an unbelievable hatchet job on the state’s flagship university. They don’t don’t care about free speech. They just wanted to punish a liberal for hurting a conservative’s feelings.

 

Given their focus on free speech—and the fact they pushed a ridiculous (and unconstitutional) bill in the unicam’s education committee that purports to be about ensuring everyone’s free speech LAST WEEK—they ought to be out here championing the Nazi undergrad’s rights. [crickets]

 

Anyhow, back to the Nazi undergrad. No one should mistake my absolutism on free speech for some sort of defense of his beliefs. The university failed, at first, to roundly condemn those beliefs when they sent out a school-wide message about him and his general threats of violence

 

Every opportunity to condemn hatred and bigotry needs to be taken by universities. No mealy-mouthed nonsense about safety and ensuring everyone has a voice that fails to make clear the position that while we allow people to speak their minds we condemn prejudice and violence.

 

The 2nd attempt, by the Chancellor, took that opportunity, condemning the beliefs while upholding the right to say them. We’re in the ideas business. We let people speak and we counter bad ideas with good ideas. We listen and then we teach. That’s how this has to work, every time

 

The Chancellor has an opportunity now to undo the wrong decision that was made under political pressure with regard to the grad student, saying the same thing he said about the Nazi undergrad. Everyone gets to speak, even if we don’t like the content of that speech. Full stop.

 

The grad student should be reinstated with an apology for overreaction. The state senators and Regent who called for her dismissal should be put in their place and should applaud the Chancellor for his attitude of free speech for everyone, our political allies and opponents alike

 

The position we have now at #UNL is the Nazi gets to say what he wants but anyone who protests the Nazi with the middle finger gets booted out. That’s an untenable position. There’s no argument for it. If the Nazi gets to nonspecifically threaten me, I get to give him the finger.

 

Even if it’s impolite, it’s protected speech in the same way his nonspecific talk about the virtues of acting violently on behalf of fascist ideas is protected speech. You certainly don’t want to privilege the speech of the fascist and punish the anti-fascist. That’s ridiculous.

 

Everyone should bring this up with the Chancellor and the President at every opportunity because these cases provide the U with an opportunity to do the right thing & stand up for not only free speech but also academic freedom against those who don’t understand or care about them

 

We need to make an affirmative case about the reason a university privileges speech, even bad speech we abhor. We need to explain the distinct virtues of a liberal education and a public land grant university to people like Regent Daub, and Senators Halloran, Brewer, and Erdman.

 

They might not understand or care, but making the case is good for us because we can make it publicly to the people of this state, those people who love this university, who benefit from everything it does for the state, and who will ultimately decide future regents and senators.

 

Having said all that I’ll conclude by saying that no one should be made to feel insecure on our campus. If you do feel that way as a result of everything that’s going on, let faculty know, let administrators know. You’re not powerless or alone and shouldn’t have to feel that way.

 

When someone wants you to feel that way we should do everything possible (within the bounds of university policy and the law) to counteract that. We can do so and we ought to. Faculty, staff & administrators are here to help you; that’s a major reason we got into this sort of job

 

Allowing Nazis to speak doesn’t mean that we want other people to feel disempowered or under assault on their campus. Absolutely not. So please reach out even if it’s just to vent for a minute before getting back to your homework. Believe me, you’ll find lots of sympathetic ears.

 

[funhusker]

2 hours ago, teachercd said:

Does this guy think he is Remy from Higher Learning?

Great movie!

[Swiv3D]

Fun fact, he lives at The View apartment complex. Instead of taking it to the dumpster people just leave their trash in front of his door

[B.B. Hemingway]

30 minutes ago, Swiv3D said:

Fun fact, he lives at The View apartment complex. Instead of taking it to the dumpster people just leave their trash in front of his door

 

 

 

Or just take him to the trash....

[Swiv3D]

42 minutes ago, B.B. Hemingway said:

 

 

 

Or just take him to the trash....

Apparently it's in the lease agreement that we're not allowed to do that...

[RedDenver]

23 hours ago, knapplc said:

University of Nebraska political theory professor Ari Kohen has this to say.  It's a long tweet thread, so I'm going to copypasta the text and put it in here as paragraphs rather than copying each individual tweet.  If you want to read the thread in situ, click the tweet.

 

 

Subsequent tweets:

 

One thing that’s become abundantly clear is that universities need to have a plan in place to deal with these issues and they need to be consistent. #UNL has a very mixed track record, not just this year but in the 10 years I’ve been here and that makes things much harder.

 

Bill Ayers was invited to speak as part of an education conference here in 2008 before the whole Sarah Palin thing—“palin’ around with terrorists’—happened; once conservatives found out he was coming to Nebraska, they freaked out, made threats, and university canceled the speech.

 

This was a huge embarrassment for the university. It’s something I haven’t forgotten and I suspect a lot of faculty feel the same; it felt like a massive selling out of academic freedom by our Chancellor at the time. Ayers was a recognized academic expert & ought to have spoken.

 

In the years between the Ayers debacle and this year’s issues, we’ve had a few other dust-ups. The one that stands out is a member of the Board of Regents suggesting that student athletes should be kicked off the team (maybe out of school) for kneeling during the national anthem.

 

There was no disciplinary action taken, thankfully, but it was shocking that an elected Regent of the university would use his position to insult students and call for them to suffer consequences for an action that is very clearly protected political speech.

 

And, of course, that same Regent had a role in the carefully orchestrated overreaction to a simple protest on campus in August, pushing a narrative, with other right wing politicians, that a graduate student ought to be removed from campus for peacefully protesting a TPUSA tabler

 

Amazingly, there are still a LOT of people who believe that, because they don’t like the grad’s speech, she ought to be punished for that speech. Giving someone the finger and calling that person a neo-fascist isn’t polite, but politeness isn’t the test we use, nor should it be.

 

The grad student has lost her teaching position, a decision by the administration that STILL hasn’t been reversed. This decision was a reversal of the original decision in the matter, which was to do nothing, because politicians—who hold the U’s purse strings—publicly freaked out

 

And the kicker: at the same time the grad student was peacefully impolitely protesting an undergrad was in Charlottesville at a white supremacy rally where he seems to have participated in beating a counter-demonstrater. He returned from VA & continues his Nazi activities in NE.

 

I’ve been aware of the Nazi undergrad since then, as he testified at a Lincoln City Council meeting (in opposition to a statement about valuing diversity, I think) with the undergrad who was protested on campus by the grad student. The U has also been aware of his activities.

 

Now the Nazi undergrad has been recorded talking to other Nazis about the virtues of violence & the video has gone viral around campus, leading to everyone learning about him and feeling worried that he’s on campus. Which has led to calls for his dismissal *for his bad opinions*.

 

And the university has, rightly, chosen to carefully monitor the threat he might pose and NOT dismiss him for speech. He hasn’t specifically threatened anyone; he just makes people uncomfortable and is generally threatening. He shouldn’t be dismissed for that.

 

This is where consistency is KEY. The grad student who gave an undergrad the middle finger & called her a “neo-facist Becky” shouldn’t have been fired from her teaching position and should be immediately reinstated. And the Nazi undergrad shouldn’t be kicked out of school either.

 

You can’t punish the peaceful protest of the grad student in August and proclaim the free speech rights of the Nazi undergrad. They both have the same free speech rights. And, of course, all of this leaves aside the DEAFENING silence of NE Senators Brewer, Halloran, and Erdman.

 

Those state senators, along with right wing hate media (locally and nationally), participated in an unbelievable hatchet job on the state’s flagship university. They don’t don’t care about free speech. They just wanted to punish a liberal for hurting a conservative’s feelings.

 

Given their focus on free speech—and the fact they pushed a ridiculous (and unconstitutional) bill in the unicam’s education committee that purports to be about ensuring everyone’s free speech LAST WEEK—they ought to be out here championing the Nazi undergrad’s rights. [crickets]

 

Anyhow, back to the Nazi undergrad. No one should mistake my absolutism on free speech for some sort of defense of his beliefs. The university failed, at first, to roundly condemn those beliefs when they sent out a school-wide message about him and his general threats of violence

 

Every opportunity to condemn hatred and bigotry needs to be taken by universities. No mealy-mouthed nonsense about safety and ensuring everyone has a voice that fails to make clear the position that while we allow people to speak their minds we condemn prejudice and violence.

 

The 2nd attempt, by the Chancellor, took that opportunity, condemning the beliefs while upholding the right to say them. We’re in the ideas business. We let people speak and we counter bad ideas with good ideas. We listen and then we teach. That’s how this has to work, every time

 

The Chancellor has an opportunity now to undo the wrong decision that was made under political pressure with regard to the grad student, saying the same thing he said about the Nazi undergrad. Everyone gets to speak, even if we don’t like the content of that speech. Full stop.

 

The grad student should be reinstated with an apology for overreaction. The state senators and Regent who called for her dismissal should be put in their place and should applaud the Chancellor for his attitude of free speech for everyone, our political allies and opponents alike

 

The position we have now at #UNL is the Nazi gets to say what he wants but anyone who protests the Nazi with the middle finger gets booted out. That’s an untenable position. There’s no argument for it. If the Nazi gets to nonspecifically threaten me, I get to give him the finger.

 

Even if it’s impolite, it’s protected speech in the same way his nonspecific talk about the virtues of acting violently on behalf of fascist ideas is protected speech. You certainly don’t want to privilege the speech of the fascist and punish the anti-fascist. That’s ridiculous.

 

Everyone should bring this up with the Chancellor and the President at every opportunity because these cases provide the U with an opportunity to do the right thing & stand up for not only free speech but also academic freedom against those who don’t understand or care about them

 

We need to make an affirmative case about the reason a university privileges speech, even bad speech we abhor. We need to explain the distinct virtues of a liberal education and a public land grant university to people like Regent Daub, and Senators Halloran, Brewer, and Erdman.

 

They might not understand or care, but making the case is good for us because we can make it publicly to the people of this state, those people who love this university, who benefit from everything it does for the state, and who will ultimately decide future regents and senators.

 

Having said all that I’ll conclude by saying that no one should be made to feel insecure on our campus. If you do feel that way as a result of everything that’s going on, let faculty know, let administrators know. You’re not powerless or alone and shouldn’t have to feel that way.

 

When someone wants you to feel that way we should do everything possible (within the bounds of university policy and the law) to counteract that. We can do so and we ought to. Faculty, staff & administrators are here to help you; that’s a major reason we got into this sort of job

 

Allowing Nazis to speak doesn’t mean that we want other people to feel disempowered or under assault on their campus. Absolutely not. So please reach out even if it’s just to vent for a minute before getting back to your homework. Believe me, you’ll find lots of sympathetic ears.

 

Great find. Everyone should read this.

[JJ Husker]

On 2/10/2018 at 8:33 AM, RedDenver said:

Great find. Everyone should read this.

IDK, seems to me this professor is just steamed about the treatment of a grad student and chose this Nazi topic to help bolster his position. I agree the University should be consistent in their defense of free speech but I'm not convinced this POS Nazi should be treated solely as a free speech issue. I think he crossed the line of free speech when he began to openly support violence. It's more than an issue of his speech making people uncomfortable. There is a direct threat of violence buried in that speech and it needs to be taken very seriously. And you know what, I could give two sh#ts about giving Nazis or white supremacists the benefit of the doubt. I wouldn't be opposed to making an exception to the rule when dealing with a message of hate. I don't think it's a slippery slope subject.

 

We just had another example with the Florida high school shooting of why these types of threats should not be ignored. We need to be more proactive in dealing with these issues of unstable people rather than blaming the inanimate objects they choose as their weapons after they have acted.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Comfortably Numb