A few weeks ago, as part of a lecture on academic freedom at Emory University, I noted that censorious campus feminists have been the leading force behind campus speech restrictions masquerading as “hostile environment” rules, and stated the following:
One does not need much of an imagination to come up with examples of how antidiscrimination law could be used to silence left-wing academics….Now comes word, via John Rosenberg, that the University of North Carolina professor in question, Elyse Crystall, is, along with UNC, being investigated by the Department of Education for violating federal civil rights law by creating a hostile environment for white, male, Christian students. A conservative Republican Congressman, Rep. Walter Jones, helped instigate the investigation. I predict that this will not be the last we hear of hostile environment blowback. As I wrote in You Can’t Say That!, the fact that radical feminists and criticical race theorists living “in a society that has long been, and continues to be, hostile to their ideology would want to weaken the principle that government may not suppress expression because of hostility to its viewpoint seems counterintuitive and shortsighted, to say the least.”Consider how the concept of “hostile educational environment” could be applied to Women’s Studies classes taught by radical feminists. Students from traditional, white middle-American Christian backgrounds are often told that they are inherently racists, that the traditional religious values that they grew up on are reactionary principles that serve to support an oppressive patriarchy, and, that if they are men, that much of the sex that have or will engage in amounts to rape.
Just recently, a student at Univeristy of North Carolina expressed religious objections to homosexual conduct and criticized homosexuality as “disgusting” in class. His professor sent out an email to the entire class lambasting this student:
what we experienced, as unforunate as it is, is, however, a perfect example of privilege. that a white, heterosexual, christian male, one who vehemently denied his privilege last week insisting that he earned all he has, can feel entitled to make violent, heterosexist comments and not feel marked or threatened or vulnerable is what privilege makes possible.The chairman of this professor’s department was notified of this ill-tempered outburst, and under pressure from him, she apologized. That’s all appropriate; professors shouldn’t be singling out students in vituperative emails. But what if this student filed a “hostile environment” complaint against his professor for creating a hostile environment for him as a Christian, and perhaps as a white male? Isn’t it clear he would have a good case? And wouldn’t his winning such a case have a chilling effect on what other feminist professors say in class, even if they say it in a more moderate and appropriate way?
Even the weakest discrimination complaints can lead, at a minimum, to a mandatory investigation by the Department of Education. Internal university investigations and, most chillingly, lawsuits against both universities and feminist professors as individuals for promoting and tolerating hostile environments for Christian students are other things that one could look forward to if academic freedom is weakened. Conservative Christian groups seem to have not yet realized the weapon they have in their hands, but they undoubtedly will.
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