The Continuing Deconstruction Of Education In America
I read this very disturbing article at The Federalist this morning:
UCLA Students Demand Two Professors Be Fired For Doing Their Job
Woke students are using meaningless language, having a meltdown over facts, and 'canceling' people whose ideas they don't like — all in the name of equality.
Students are demanding the firing of two University of California, Los Angeles lecturers for doing their jobs, bringing the quest for conformity and identity politics to an absurd new level.
One of the lecturers is Gordon Klein, who teaches accounting at the Anderson School of Management. A UCLA student emailed Klein recently, telling him that in light of George Floyd’s tragic death, black students “are struggling to focus on their educations when there is massive sociopolitical unrest that concerns both them and the future of their plight in this country.” To show support for black classmates, the student, who is not black, asked Klein to offer a “no-harm” final exam that could only benefit black students’ grades.
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Klein is not the only UCLA lecturer whose job is on the line. Students are also demanding the firing of political science lecturer W. Ajax Peris, an Air Force veteran. People who know Peris well consider him a regular liberal, never a controversial type.
When teaching the history of racism recently, Peris read aloud MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” which includes the n-word, and showed a documentary to the class in which lynching was discussed. For students who signed up to “learn” the history of racism against black people, hearing a white lecturer read the n-word from a letter written by a jailed civil rights leader and watching lynching imagery made them feel so “uncomfortable,” they asked Peris to stop. Peris apologized for causing students “discomfort” but continued his teaching, resulting in a great deal of “distress” and “anger” among the students.
Leadership of the Political Science Department quickly condemned Peris in a department-wide email for failing to reassess his “teaching pedagogy to meet the students’ needs.” The same leadership also referred Peris to UCLA’s Discrimination Prevention Office for an investigation. Furthermore, UCLA will host a town hall for students in Peris’ classes to discuss the “controversy” and next steps. Despite Peris’ multiple apologies, students still want him dismissed.
This afternoon Fox News is reporting:
A California college professor reportedly is being investigated for discrimination and under police protection after refusing a request to exempt black students from final exams in the wake of George Floyd's death.
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) suspended Gordon Klein, an accounting professor in the Anderson School of Business where he's been teaching for 39 years, for three weeks beginning on June 25 after he declined a student's request to delay a final exam in light of Floyd's death, the Free Beacon reports.
Anderson School of Management Dean Antonio Bernardo sent an email to students on Monday calling Klein's behavior "troubling" and reportedly extended the time students have to complete exams given the "difficult circumstances."
The Malibu Police Department reportedly has an increased police presence outside Klein's home after multiple threats.
At least 20,000 people signed a petition calling for Klein's removal after a student who wasn't in the class posted the email exchange on social media.
Words fail me.