Nazi tactics used in American universities
Apparently the staff at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) studied the Nazis a little too closely. Last November, university officials accused student-employee Keith John Sampson of racial harassment for reading a book while on break that was available in the school library.
Sampson was reading the book "Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan," by Todd Tucker, which gives a historical account of a 1924 incident in which a group of University of Notre Dame students fought in the streets with members of the Ku Klux Klan, and won.
In a letter to Sampson from Lillian Charleston of IUPUI's Affirmative Action Office, she explained that, "Upon review of this matter, we conclude that your conduct constitutes racial harassment in that you demonstrated disdain and insensitivity to your co-workers who repeatedly requested that you refrain from reading the book which has such an inflammatory and offensive topic in their presence...you used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorant subject in the presence of your Black co-workers."
Apparently educating yourself about history is now officially a crime in this country.
On the Amazon.com featured page for the book, author Todd Tucker left the following message:
The stance of the Affirmative Action Office, it appears, is that any act is racial harassment if they call it racial harassment.
Now the University is changing its story, and saying that Sampson's reading of the book had nothing to do with the racial harassment charges. Dorothy Rabinowitz, writing in the Wall Street Journal this week, tried to ascertain from the University what behavior prompted the harassment charge, if as the University now says, reading the book wasn't the problem. After a hopeless attempt, Rabinowitz concluded that, "What the behavior was, one learned, could never be revealed."
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has been defending Sampson in the attempt to prove the University's actions were wrong, to receive an apology, and have the incident expunged from the student's record.
FIRE's Vice President Robert Shibley explains that, "This looks like a classic example of a college making things worse in an unprincipled attempt to save face. IUPUI's own letters to Sampson made clear that his reading a book about the Ku Klux Klan was the problem, and the university claims to have completely exonerated him of all charges. If so, why are its spokespeople now telling The Wall Street Journal that the problem was really some other mysterious conduct that the university will not reveal to anyone, including Sampson himself?"
"If IUPUI really thought that Sampson had engaged in some 'racially harassing' behavior rather than reading a book, there is no reason why they would not have brought it up at the time—and no reason why they couldn't say what it is now," Shibley said. "This apparent whispering campaign against Sampson is truly appalling. IUPUI has either brazenly violated due process by finding a student guilty without a hearing and without even letting him know the allegations against him or, more likely, is lying in an attempt to stave off further embarrassment. Either way, the school has bitterly betrayed one of its own students."
Sampson was reading the book "Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan," by Todd Tucker, which gives a historical account of a 1924 incident in which a group of University of Notre Dame students fought in the streets with members of the Ku Klux Klan, and won.
In a letter to Sampson from Lillian Charleston of IUPUI's Affirmative Action Office, she explained that, "Upon review of this matter, we conclude that your conduct constitutes racial harassment in that you demonstrated disdain and insensitivity to your co-workers who repeatedly requested that you refrain from reading the book which has such an inflammatory and offensive topic in their presence...you used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorant subject in the presence of your Black co-workers."
Apparently educating yourself about history is now officially a crime in this country.
On the Amazon.com featured page for the book, author Todd Tucker left the following message:
Some of you may have heard about a
recent travesty at IUPUI - a major, state-funded institution of higher
learning in Indianapolis. A student-employee was found guilty of racial
harassment for . . . .reading my book, Notre Dame vs the Klan.
Anybody
taking five minutes to assess the contents of its page on Amazon could
determine rapidly that the book is enthusiastically anti-Klan. You
could perhaps argue that this shouldn't matter - a college campus ought
to be a safe haven for exploration of ideas. But I do think it makes
this situation even more outrageous that the good people at IUPUI's
affirmative action office didn't care about that. My more recent book
has as its heroes religious pacifists during World War II - I think
it's safe to conclude I don't have any kind of right-wing axe to grind.
The stance of the Affirmative Action Office, it appears, is that any act is racial harassment if they call it racial harassment.
Now the University is changing its story, and saying that Sampson's reading of the book had nothing to do with the racial harassment charges. Dorothy Rabinowitz, writing in the Wall Street Journal this week, tried to ascertain from the University what behavior prompted the harassment charge, if as the University now says, reading the book wasn't the problem. After a hopeless attempt, Rabinowitz concluded that, "What the behavior was, one learned, could never be revealed."
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has been defending Sampson in the attempt to prove the University's actions were wrong, to receive an apology, and have the incident expunged from the student's record.
FIRE's Vice President Robert Shibley explains that, "This looks like a classic example of a college making things worse in an unprincipled attempt to save face. IUPUI's own letters to Sampson made clear that his reading a book about the Ku Klux Klan was the problem, and the university claims to have completely exonerated him of all charges. If so, why are its spokespeople now telling The Wall Street Journal that the problem was really some other mysterious conduct that the university will not reveal to anyone, including Sampson himself?"
"If IUPUI really thought that Sampson had engaged in some 'racially harassing' behavior rather than reading a book, there is no reason why they would not have brought it up at the time—and no reason why they couldn't say what it is now," Shibley said. "This apparent whispering campaign against Sampson is truly appalling. IUPUI has either brazenly violated due process by finding a student guilty without a hearing and without even letting him know the allegations against him or, more likely, is lying in an attempt to stave off further embarrassment. Either way, the school has bitterly betrayed one of its own students."
This country is getting ridiculous with it's "political correctness". How long will it be before a student is disciplined for reading the bible in public because it is offensive to non-Christians? This country needs to wake up and stop catering to the minorities. And by minorities, I don't necessarily mean blacks, (and yes I'm saying blacks instead of African American because 99% of the blacks living here did NOT move here from Africa. My family has been in this country less than 60 years and I don't go around calling myself Italian American and insisting that everyone else do too)Hispanics, etc. I mean the atheists, the fanatical tree huggers and all the rest of the little groups that are banding together and pushing around the MAJORITY. WAKE UP AMERICA!
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