April 6, 2004 by s.z.

The Crushing of College English Instructors

Remember the college instructor who brutalized that white male student by sending out an email to the rest of the class which criticized him for exercising his Constitutional (and God-given) right to say that homosexuals are disgusting?  Sure, you do -- Townhall columnist and campus whiner Mike Adams told us all about it, giving us the instructor's name and a copy of her email (but not the Christian's name, because he's a victim).  It was also mentioned at InstaPundit, Fox News, Free Republic, and many other Christian and/or conservative sites and blogs.

Okay, maybe you don't remember (who pays attention to Mike, Insty, etc.?)  So, fortunately, the Agape Press's Rev. Mark Creech has recapped the case in this week's column.  (The Rev. also tells his own sad story of being persecuted by nasty homosexualists, but we don't have time to discuss his victimhood today.)

It's not uncommon for controversial issues to be discussed in Elyse Crystall's "Literature and Cultural Diversity" class at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Recently, when the discussion turned to why straight men often feel threatened by gay men, Tim Mertes, a conservative Christian, spoke out against homosexuality, saying it was "impure," "dirty," and "disgusting." Unfortunately, after class some students complained about Mertes's remarks, Crystall was prompted to zip off an e-mail to class members, warning she wouldn't "tolerate any racist, sexist and/or heterosexist comments in my class." She added the language Mertes used was "hate speech," "violent," and an example of "white heterosexual Christian male" privilege.

Fortunately, conservative groups on campus came to Mertes's defense, arguing Crystall's e-mail was not evenhanded and a violation of Mertes's rights to free speech. Even N.C. Congressman Walter Jones weighed in by firing off a press release and a letter to UNC's chancellor, rightly contending that "had Ms. Crystall substituted the word "'black' for 'white,' 'homosexual' for 'heterosexual,' or 'Muslim' for 'Christian,' she would have been suspended or fired immediately."

[snip]

But according to a story about this incident in The Independent, a Raleigh newspaper, senior Michael McKnight — founder of the Committee for a Better Carolina, a group that has proposed that faculty sign a pledge guaranteeing "respect for all viewpoints" — says the notion that Mertes's words could possibly intimidate gay students at UNC is "laughable." Knight said, "I can't imagine a campus that's more gay-friendly than this one. People talk about heterosexism, but I almost feel there is homosexism going on here — that everyone's shoving homosexuality down my throat."

In his book Persecution, David Limbaugh makes a statement that I think amply summarizes this entire matter. He writes, "As we can see, in modern America it is taboo to disparage or ridicule any group or to do anything that the most hypersensitive might find offensive. Yet that prohibition does not seem to apply to protect Christians or Christianity. It just depends on whose ox is being gored." Without question, this is the case when those sympathetic with the gay lifestyle, for example, demonstrate as Ms. Crystall did: demonstrate no sensitivity toward Christians and their beliefs, yet in stark contrast demand the tenants of gays and lesbians be treated as sacrosanct by society.

So, why am I bringing this story up?

Is it because those "fortunate" conservative groups on campus get major funding from right-wing foundations, and have used the incident to further their agenda of perpetuating the idea that we need "conservative quotas" in campus hiring?

Is it because Congressman Walter Jones has "weighed in" by requesting state and federal "civil rights" investigations of the email incident, and such an investigation is currently being conducted by Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education?

Is it because it's ridiculous to claim that if a professor objects to your classroom remarks about finding homosexuality disgusting, then you are being attacked for being a Christian (as if one of the tenets of Christianity is, "Go and tell all the world what disgusts you")?

Well, yeah, but mostly because I found Michael McKnight's remark about everyone "shoving homosexuality down my throat" pretty funny.

But let's go through the first couple of these points.

1.  The Conservative Groups who Made a Big Deal Out of This

The Raleigh Independent Weekly had a couple of articles about the case this week.  Here are some extracts from the one by Barbara Solow (all bolding mine):

Academia under siege

. . .How did what would otherwise have been a minor blip in classroom communications become a major skirmish in the campus culture wars? The answer has to do with the presence of a well-financed conservative machine that's ready to roll out against what it views as the ruling "liberal orthodoxy" in higher education. While local news coverage gave the impression that the response to Crystall's e-mail was spontaneous, in reality it was spurred by conservative student activists informed by a national right-wing strategy against gains represented by such "liberal" disciplines as women's studies and cultural diversity programs.

Per Solow, one of these groups is the Raleigh-based Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, which advises students about how the liberals are oppressing them, and collects complaints about "liberal bias" in college classrooms.  This group will come up several more times in Solow's story, connected with some of the individuals we've already met.

The activities of these groups aren't limited to mere publicity. Versions of an "Academic Bill of Rights" proposed by David Horowitz--founder of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture--are gaining ground in Colorado, Georgia and Missouri, while a national bill introduced in October is being reviewed by a congressional committee. U.S. Rep. Jones is a co-sponsor of that measure, which calls for university hiring practices that promote "a plurality of methodologies and perspectives" and bar faculty from using courses "for the purpose of political, ideological, religious or anti-religious indoctrination."

 . . ."It wouldn't matter what faculty orientation was if everyone was fair," says UNC-Chapel Hill senior Michael McKnight, chair of the state Federation of College Republicans and an intern with the Pope Center. "People just feel there's an overwhelming liberal majority here, and they rule."

So, Mr. "Homosexuality is being shoved down my throat" has a job with the Pope Center.  Odd that Rev. Creech didn't mention that.  It's also strange that he wouldn't mention that Jones is proposing a bill mandating an EEO program for conservatives, and so might be looking for incidents to promote his cause.

Anyway, on to more info about the groups and associated individuals who fueled this fire:

The conservative rapid-response network was certainly active in Crystall's case. The first off-campus voice to chime in was Mike Adams, a tenured associate professor in the criminal justice program at UNC-Wilmington and a columnist for the right-wing Heritage Foundation. (The foundation is the nation's number one destination for conservative grants, according to the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy report).

. . .A few days later, Republican Congressman Jones was listening to his car radio when he heard Mertes being interviewed on The Jerry Agar Show on WPTF-AM in Raleigh. Jones, an ultraconservative best known for his "freedom fries" bill introduced during the buildup to the war in Iraq, fired off a press release and a letter to UNC's chancellor castigating university leaders for failing to "implement structural changes that could have prevented this outrageous incident."

So, Jones was the "freedom fries" guy?  Man, he will introduce bills on any wacky topic he can think of, won't he?

Back in Chapel Hill, staffers and interns from the Pope Center were among those talking to Mertes about how to respond to Crystall's e-mail, among them, Laura Thomas, the student who initially took it to the Daily Tar Heel. Mertes, who was named on Agar's radio show, though not in most print or online reports, did not respond to numerous requests to be interviewed for this article.  But his conservative compatriots aren't shy about expressing their pleasure at the notice his story has received.

"The media coverage really helped us out," says Thomas, who ran unsuccessfully for UNC student body president on a platform of creating a more welcoming atmosphere for conservatives. "If it was just Tim going to a dean, it wouldn't have gotten the attention.  A lot of people say the media attention shows there isn't much bias here.  But there are other incidents that didn't get to the right people to get out there. This is just one example."

When asked why she took it on herself to forward Crystall's e-mail without Mertes' consent, Thomas is resolute. "When I saw it, I knew this was wrong and can't be allowed," she says.

Hey, another Manuel Miranda!  It's nice the way these highly principled whistle-blowers have such strong feelings about right and wrong, except when it comes to issues such as privacy, intellectual property rights, etc. 

And it's interesting that the woman who leaked the email to the student paper is an intern with the Pope Center too, and nobody on the right considers this worth mentioning.

But back to the Pope Center:

Providing structure is part of Joey Stansbury's charge as outreach director for the Pope Center's new satellite office in Chapel Hill. As a member of UNC's class of 1994 (he majored in political science), he feels uniquely qualified to be dealing with issues on campus and a "kindred spirit" with the current crop of conservative student activists.

Stansbury's plugged in in other ways, too. A political science major, he worked on Congressman Jones' campaign and also with the John William Pope Foundation--the primary funding source for the John Locke Foundation and the Pope Center, which is now a separate nonprofit. (The Pope Foundation's namesake is a former trustee of UNC-Chapel Hill who made his fortune in the regional discount store business and was an outspoken critic of the university's black culture center).

Few people are aware of the Pope Center's presence in Chapel Hill, and that's partly because its leaders don't seem eager to advertise. When asked what activities will go on at the new office-- perched unobtrusively in a second-floor, former print shop above the heart of Franklin Street--Stansbury is vague.

"We have a commitment to trying to promote quality higher education in North Carolina," he says. "As an organization that will grow, we will develop programs and activities as we try to figure out what the needs will be."

 He refers questions about the operating budget to center Director George Leef, who says, "It's small, in the low six figures."

. . .The Pope Center may have a low public profile, but conservative students say it's been a major boost to some of the high-profile organizing going on at UNC. Senior Michael McKnight is a founder of The Committee for a Better Carolina, a group that's been loudly critical of the university's summer reading choices and has proposed that faculty sign a pledge to guarantee "respect for all viewpoints." (They're still working on the wording). He says the committee has received "several thousand dollars" worth of grants from the Pope Center--including for a full-page newspaper ad denouncing the choice of Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed for summer reading last year.

So, this isn't a case of just a lone Christian's fight for vindication, with the backing of a few other students who were appalled by the instructors insensitivity to his Christian feelings and his first amendment rights. 

And Mr. "homosexuality being shoved done my throat" isn't just a random student whom reporters happened to encounter while doing research for this story -- he is a an intern with a right-wing foundation, and got "grants" from that some foundation to head another group and complain about liberal reading lists.  And he's written columns for David Horowitz's FrontPageNews.   But just a coincidence, I'm sure.

And the guy running the Pope Center used to work for the Congressman who made federal case about the email incident, and wants to use it for political purposes.  Yeah, another coincidence.

But back to our victim.  In this week's Independent, another reporter criticizes the local papers for using only Mertes' first name; she reports that the Herald-Sun said they were doing it because "Tim" wanted to avoid controversy and "feared repercussion" (which seemed rather inconsistent, since he'd already used his full name on that radio show, and kept making himself available for interviews). 

But was The Herald-Sun really being honest? The same reporter who covered the controversy (and used Mertes' first name only), Eric Ferreri, knew perfectly well that Tim wasn't exactly a perfectly ideal powerless victim. Only months before, Ferreri had written a laudatory front-page story on Mertes' luctrative used-luxury car business, portraying him as a highly successful entrepreneur, "wise beyond his years" and wealthy as well. This year, Mertes is hoping to have "$3 million in total sales, from which he'll surely pocket a tidy sum."

How is this related to "Tim's" story of martyrdom? It's related because The Herald-Sun knew full well that identifying Tim Mertes fully would have made less of a story--that ol' narrative of helpless-young-student-against-powerful-professor frame. I can accept the fact that "Tim" might have had fears about repercussions. But so far, let's be honest: Crystall, and in turn, the university, has gotten all the repercussions.

Well, the "Christian David Vs. the Big, Mean, Intolerant College Instructor Who Picked On Him" is a lot more dramatic than the story of the "Conservative Jerk Who Let Himself Be Used by the Right-Wing Foundations Vs. the College Instructor Who Mishandled an Incident" one.

Anyway, a couple of weeks after Mike Adams started the crusade against Ms. Crystall, he wrote another column which reproduced a letter he had received from Crystall's department chair.  The English Department chairman said that what Crystall had done was wrong, but she had apologized and her class would be monitored for the rest of the semester.  Mike applauded the guy for his response, and claimed that his actions were "cause for optimism despite the generally deplorable state of free expression at UNC-Chapel Hill."

So, matter over, right?  No, because it was at this point that. . .

2.  Congressman Walter Jones Asks For a Federal Investigation

Let's hear a redacted (by me) version the story as reported by the Christian folks at CNSNews:

A U.S. congressman is calling for an investigation into a University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill professor who allegedly defamed one of her students in an email sent to his classmates. . . .She used her government email account to send her comments.

 . . ."The student in question was forced to go [to] an online message board to defend himself to his classmates, his academic future left in the hands of the likes of Ms. Crystall," wrote Jones.

"Unfortunately, this particular incident appears to be part of a larger pattern of harassment of students who do not share the ideological bent of academics of the political and social left," Jones added.

 . . .Jones has also asked North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper to investigate the incident to determine to which extent the student's rights under state statutes were violated.

In addition, Jones is referring the matter to the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Education to conduct a federal investigation to determine whether a civil rights violation has occurred. 

And here's part of the Agape Press account of Jones' grandstanding:

A U.S. congressman is defending a Christian student at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill who was singled out by a professor for saying he opposed homosexuality on biblical grounds.

The question under discussion in UNC Professor Elyse Crystall's Literature and Cultural Diversity class was: "Why do heterosexual men feel threatened by homosexuals?" The student expressed his religiously-based belief that homosexuality was not a desirable lifestyle.

[Note: this is what "the student" actually said, per Crystall and other students: "Homosexuals are not a threat to masculinity, they are a threat to life because they have nonreproductive sex.  Homosexuality is disgusting.  I don't want to think about what they do.  They are morally impure.  This is a Christian country, and the Bible says homosexuality is a sin.  I don't want to have to explain to my son at a ball game why two men are kissing and have to explain to him that this is wrong."]

The English professor followed up the discussion with a mass e-mail to the students enrolled in the class, in which she accused the student of promoting "hate speech."

. . .Walter Jones has filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department's Civil Rights Division, and has asked State Attorney General Roy Cooper to determine whether the professor broke any state laws. Jones says he would have taken similar action had it been a Jewish or Muslim student.

"To me, this is a freedom issue," Jones says. "When young people go to college [there should be] freedom in the classroom -- and that applies to the teacher as well as the student. The student should be able to express his or her views without feeling any type of intimidation."

Expressing his disappointment with the incident, Jones says it is part of an ongoing effort by "the left" in America to attack Christianity.

"There is an assault on the morality of America that began a few years ago -- and this is just one more example, in my opinion, of the extreme views of some that just do not respect the rights of people of faith," he says. "Quite frankly, in this case they were critical of this young man's faith and his beliefs when he shared them with the class."

Yeah, if you say "I BELIEVE that gays are disgusting, because that's my religion," then nobody should be allowed to criticize your speech.

Jones wants UNC Chancellor James Moeser to personally look into the case and consider whether more conservative professors are needed in certain departments to achieve true diversity.

And if the Chancellor doesn't come up with the right answers, then I guess Jones will have to go forward with his bill mandating that professors be grilled on their beliefs, and that we then hire enough conservative ones to meet federal quotas. 

And Jones has ANOTHER bill in the works: one that will allow clergymen to order their flocks to vote for Bush without fear of losing their tax-exempt status:

Congressman Jones' belief in the freedom to speak one's faith is reflected in legislation he is sponsoring in the U.S. House. The "Houses of Worship Free Speech Restoration Act" (HR 235) would enable clergy to speak out on moral issues of the day without fear of financial penalties from the Internal Revenue Service or revocation of their group's tax-exempt status.

Currently clergy are forbidden to speak out on any topic that could be deemed "politically partisan." The IRS has even gone so far as to issue code words to tip them off to illegal activity. Words such as "pro-choice," "pro-life," "liberal," and "conservative" uttered from a pulpit can warrant an investigation by the IRS. Prior to 1954, churches, synagogues, and mosques were free to speak out about any and every topic -- without government limitations.

So, if you're from North Carolina and Jones is your Congressman, please vote for somebody different next time, because he's a kook.

Anyway, per the Independent, the local papers, and the Daily Tarheel, students in Ms. Crystall's class say that the Dept. of Education investigation is infringing on their freedom of speech, because they don't dare speak their minds in class anymore, for fear of having their comments appear, out of context, in the national media.  Plus, the investigators are getting access to the website which the class used for discussions:

To further the investigation, the civil rights office has requested information from the class' Blackboard Web site, a password-protected site that features a discussion board for students.

. . .In a letter to administrators released last week, Buckley, Dombalis and a number of other students described the release of the information on Blackboard as a blatant violation of their rights.

The investigation, Dombalis said, has deterred the students from their purpose at UNC. "The point of being in this class, of being in school, is to learn, and they're taking that ability away from us."

But. . .but, Congressman Jones said that, "When students go to college, there should be freedom in the classroom."  And now there isn't, thanks to him.  And even the Christian martyr himself said that the incident has been blown way out of proportion.  Well, that's what happens when you get those right-wing foundations and publicity-crazy politicians involved, Tim.

And Professor Crystal has not only had her email published, been forced to apologize, been maligned in the press both locally and nationally, and is the subject of a civil rights violaton case -- but she's also been the numerous nasty letters and death threats. 

Well, I think that's way more than enough about this story.  Yes, Mertes had First Amendment rights, just like these students who disrupted Lynne Cheney's speech had First Amendment rights.  But in both cases, the school also had the right to place limits on discourse.  The difference being, I doubt the case at the Univesrity of MD will make it as one of InstaPundit's "Crushing Dissent" items.

3:40:32 AM