Calvin Freiburger
Mon Oct 8, 2018 - 4:38 pm EST
WASHINGTON, D.C., October 8, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A Georgetown University professor who wished “miserable deaths” on defenders of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh will be taking a leave of absence ahead of schedule, following the university’s initial attempt to quell the controversy by invoking academic freedom.
The Senate voted 50-48 on Saturdayto confirm Kavanaugh’s appointment, following a bitter three-month battleover his abortion views and unsubstantiated, last-minute allegations of sexual assault. Kavanaugh was privately sworn inhours later, and President Donald Trump plans to hold a public swearing-in ceremony Monday evening.
Georgetown security studies professor Christine Fair ignited controversy starting September 29 when she called Kavanaugh’s defenders “entitled white men justifying a serial rapists’ arrogated entitlement,” who “deserve miserable deaths while feminists laugh as they take their last gasps.” She concluded by suggesting “we castrate their corpses and feed them to swine.”
Fair was suspended — "in error" — from the platform after tweeting the following She is a professor at Georgetown University pic.twitter.com/0R31SNa746— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) October 2, 2018
Twitter temporarily suspended her account, a move a company representative subsequently said was “in error.”
“The views of faculty members expressed in their private capacities are their own and not the views of the University. Our policy does not prohibit speech based on the person presenting ideas or the content of those ideas, even when those ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable,” Georgetown spokesman Matt Hill initially said in response to backlash. “While faculty members may exercise freedom of speech, we expect that their classrooms and interaction with students be free of bias and geared toward thoughtful, respectful dialogue.”
The Jesuit school’s statement didn’t sit well with Fair’s critics, particularly as it coincided with Catholic University of America suspending social services dean William Rainford for merely questioning the age discrepancy in the claims of Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick. Georgetown’s Dean of the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Joel Hellman, subsequently announced that Fair had agreed to leave the classroom “effective immediately.”
“We can and do strongly condemn the use of violent imagery, profanity, and insensitive labeling of individuals based on gender, ethnicity or political affiliation in any form of discourse. Such expressions go against our core values,” he said, as reported by Campus Reform. “To prevent further disruption to her students and out of an abundance of caution for the security of our community, we have mutually agreed for Professor Fair to go on research leave effective immediately. Professor Fair will accelerate previously scheduled international research travel.”
Hellman added that Georgetown has received “many legitimate concerns from members of our community and beyond regarding the social media posts Professor Fair has made in her personal capacity,” as well as “provocative and threatening” statements that have been handed over to the school’s Threat Assessment Team and the police.
Fair, a self-proclaimed “inter-sectional feminist [...] nontheist, resister” and abortion supporter who has worn “Abort Trump” and “F*** Trump” stickers at public speaking events, claims her tweet was an “experiment” in “throw[ing] back the kind of hate I get in one of the forms I get to make people as uncomfortable as I feel.” She dismissed as “preposterous” any notion that her calls for violence were sincere.
At her personal blog (titled “Tenacious Hellpu**y: A Nasty Woman Posting from the Front Lines of F***ery”), Fair also published an insult-filled reply to a Campus Reformreporter’s polite request for comment. In it, she frames critical coverage of her words as a “harassment” campaign to “silence” her.
“My question for YOU is why are you CON-servatives so afraid of women’s rage and anger?” Fair asked. “You KNOW there is a war on women going on AND the Republican party and evangelical and other so-called religious CON-servatives are partners in waging it.” She vowed to “continue to Tweet things that make you uncomfortable and I will do this by choice. I will select words and phrases that will make you and your fellow-travelers furious.”
Kavanaugh’s accusers received intense sympathetic press coverage and delayed his confirmation by nearly a month, despite lacking any corroboration and suffering from other credibility problems. The FBI’s seventh check into the judge’s background produced no new evidence to back up their stories, and the attorney of Christine Blasey Ford says her client has no plans to pursue her allegations further.
No comments:
Post a Comment