Don’t Criticise the CCP, if You Want to Keep Your Academic Job! By James Reed
I am not surprised that the universities would push down on those criticising the received Covid-19 narrative. Here is one case from the US, predictable enough.
“A professor at the University of San Diego (USD) is on the verge of being fired for writing a blog post that is critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Professor Tom Smith, on his blog The Right Coast, chastised people who believe that the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) came from somewhere other than a CCP lab, which is where it appears to have originated.
“If you believe that the coronavirus did not escape from the lab in Wuhan, you have to at least consider that you are an idiot who is swallowing whole a lot of Chinese cock swaddle,” Smith wrote bluntly.
Controversy quickly arose and Smith had to make it clear that he was talking about the CCP and not ordinary Chinese people, some of whom disagree with their government’s communist tactics.
Once USD caught wind of Smith’s words, however, it placed him under investigation citing complaints of bias. Since that time, the law school in which he teaches has sent Smith’s case to the school’s administration for a formal review.
The investigation is hinged upon a circulating petition demanding that Smith either resign or be fired. He apparently has a history of saying and writing things that some students find upsetting, and seeing as how the First Amendment does not apply on American college campuses, Smith is now being burned at the proverbial stake.
“Signed by the USD Law Student Bar Association presidents for this school year and the next, they claim in the petition Smith’s alleged comments have left some in the USD law community feeling vulnerable and helpless so that students cannot balance their studies or ‘prepare for our futures in the legal profession,'” the school’s whiny babies are reported to be saying.
Smith defends himself, says he has not even been told why he is being investigated.
In an email to The College Fix, Smith indicated that USD has been sparse in its communications with him. Very little has been said as to what, exactly, he did wrong other than to express a viewpoint that some people might not like.
“No word on what exactly I was being investigated for, who was charging me, when the investigation would take place or any of the other things required for minimal due process,” Smith’s email reportedly reads.
Because the investigation is still ongoing, USD refused to comment on the matter when pressed by The College Fix for answers or at least some kind of clarity concerning the situation.
Fortunately, Smith has the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) on his side. This group has been defending Smith ever since he first came under fire for expressing “controversial” viewpoints concerning the origin of the Chinese virus.
“The University of San Diego has not explained how its investigation into Smith’s personal blog post is consistent with its strong promises of freedom of expression,” FIRE attorney Adam Steinbaugh indicated. “That’s because it can’t reconcile its words with its actions.”
Though USD is a private institution that is technically not required to abide by the First Amendment, it has signed on to the guidelines put out by the American University of Professors (AUP), which specifically protects professors for the comments they make outside the classroom.
“When [professors] speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations,” the AUP guidelines read.
Steinbaugh agrees, noting that sharing one’s views on a personal blog outside the classroom, “which no student is required to read,” represents “speech as a citizen, and instituting a lengthy investigation suggests that the university believes it can censor that speech. It cannot.”
The question to be discussed today class is what if anything can be debated at the modern university without freak-out, and pay-back, and can even that question be discussed?
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