Tuesday, February 02, 2010

A Good Argument In Favor Of Loyalty Oaths

I swear, the more of this kind of crap I read the more I begin to think all public university employees should be required to take an oath pledging they will conduct themselves in accordance with the Constitution under pain of dismissal. This time it is my alma mater the University of Illinois where the anti-First Amendment fascists have arisen. The lengths the power that be will go to in order to squelch speech they don't like is truly repugnant. This time they are targeting students who wish to bring back the Chielf Illiniwek mascot, which I guess ranks as a criminal enterprise to the minds of these "scholars."

The efforts to actually stop the SFCI event appear to have ended here — but the attempts to silence expression about the Illiniwek mascot continued. Professor Robert Warrior, director of American Indian Studies at UI, wrote to Romano to complain about the fact that the SFCI event was being promoted on the billboard outside the venue where it was to take place, asking, “Can ROs that rent the hall say anything they want on the billboard, including racial stereotyping?” Romano responded, “I share your feeling about the billboard,” but she said that there was nothing she could do because it was “part of the package.”

Warrior also demanded that the university take down posters in the student union that he found to have a “genocidal” message. The posters had a picture of Illinois fans on it and read: “Never seen a real Indian? GOOD! Because obviously we haven’t either. The ‘Next Dance’ — Because even though ignorance may not be bliss, it sure is fun!” When informed that administrators would look into posting rules to see if the posters could be removed (that e-mail is missing from the FOIA materials), Warrior wrote to Gonzalez on September 29 that he was taking his ball and going home: “I don’t care about posting rules. Hate escalates. It’s a fact. … I am no longer willing to participate on diversity committees like the one I am on that you chair, initiatives, or events.”

Gee, they would have to do without the good professor's ignorance of the Constitution on diversity committees. That would be a blow. I mean, who would take on the role of ignorant hateful buffoon? Oh wait, its a modern university, there would be plenty of folks ready to step into that role.

*sigh*

I am philosophically opposed to loyalty oaths, but when you see such persistent rank stupidity the oaths begin to look more and more appealing.

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