Father Challenges University of Alabama for Mandating that His Daughter Watch a Crazy Jane Elliott Video on Racism

In late September we posted an article where young conservative and Trump supporter, C. J. Pearson, shared on Twitter a portion of a class he was mandated to endure at the University of Alabama.

Pearson shared the following:

What a disgrace from a great university!

Here’s one clip, with her most mild commentary of the night.

How such a one-sided presentation could be sponsored by a public university baffles me. pic.twitter.com/yptePzHMfI

— CJ Pearson (@thecjpearson) September 24, 2020

After we shared this post, a father of a student shared his emails with the university where he was upset with this initiative and challenged the University to explain why a video of Jane Elliott was mandated to be reviewed by all the students there.

The father asked the University:

I was recently made aware of an event, sponsored by the UA Student Government Association (SGA) and the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), that occurred on Wednesday, September 23 and was mandatory training for many UA students.  The event entailed Jane Elliott speaking on the topic of “diversity” although in reality she simply used the opportunity to disparage conservative viewpoints and the UA students who hold those viewpoints.

She told students of faith who oppose abortion to “get over it,” informed students that it is now insensitive for them to identify as “straight” or “white,” and compared our President of the United States to Adolf Hitler and the United States of America to Nazi Germany.  Such rhetoric is divisive, insulting, and is frankly a disgusting display of hatred and bias.

I find the September 23 event particularly troubling in light of UA Strategic Plan Goal #3, which states that UA will “enrich our learning and work environment by providing an accepting, inclusive community that attracts and supports a diverse faculty, staff and student body.”  Does UA leadership believe Jane Elliott’s intolerant and offensive hate speech advanced this goal?

As the parent of two current UA students, I am not interested in your apology.  However, I demand to know:

1. How a mandatory event featuring someone with such intolerant and extreme views as Jane Elliott was welcomed and supported by UA leadership;

2. What measures UA will take to prevent something similar from happening in the future; and,

3. The actions UA will take to remedy the hateful and divisive views shared by Jane Elliott at the September 23 event.

The University replied:

Wanted to touch base to let you we received your email concerning the September 23 Jane Elliott.  I am including some information that I hope will explain or clear up some of your concerns. But, at the same time I will be forwarding your concerns up to the appropriate department.

UA statement:

Through our extensive calendar of programming, the University and Student Government Association provide opportunities for diverse opinions and perspectives to be shared and discussed. Participation in the programs is voluntary, not mandatory. The viewpoints expressed by speakers and other participants are not endorsed by the University. 

These programs enable our students to make their own decisions about positions on timely topics. As the SGA has emphasized, now more than ever, it is critical to have meaningful conversations to discover similarities and understand differences.

SGA statement:

The event was organized by the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and offered as a feature of our OneUA campaign and one of several qualifying events for our diversity certification program. The SGA cannot and did not require any student to participate. Any report that the SGA made participation mandatory is incorrect. 

While we acknowledge students may have agreed or disagreed with Elliott’s comments, the goal of the OneUA campaign is to promote campus unity in spite of the differences we undoubtedly embody. SGA remains committed to serving the student body in an apolitical way, reflecting the diverse range of opinions represented on our campus.

The father responded:

My understanding is that for a certain population of students in the Greek community, this “training” was in fact mandatory. That is exactly how it was communicated within my daughter’s sorority.

While I appreciate being made aware of the UA and SGA statements, I’m failing to sense any accountability or responsibility for Jane Elliott’s comments. Does anyone on this e-mail believe her marginalizing and ridiculing some students’ beliefs or likening our President and the USA to Hitler and Nazi Germany make it possible to “have meaningful conversations to discover similarities and understand differences” or to “promote campus unity” in an “apolitical way?” If so, please explain how so.

The University responded to the father stating that they will review with the Greek community and find out why it was mandatory with the father responding as follows:

Thank you again for the reply. I look forward to hearing from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life on this matter soon.

Only part of my concern centers around the event being mandatory. It’s also extremely troubling to me that the UA President, the Vice President of Student Life, and the Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (all cc recipients of my earlier e-mails) have yet to acknowledge any care or concern about Jane Elliott’s hateful and divisive message to UA students.

Is UA Strategic Plan Goal #3 observed and applied to advance UA and its students, or is it simply symbolic words on a page? Is it observed and applied consistently, or only for certain select individuals and groups depending upon their belief and message?

The silence from UA leadership on this matter is actually speaking volumes.

After a month of going back and forth, the father responded to the University:

To say I’m disappointed in the lack of acknowledgement and accountability involving this matter by you and UA leadership is an understatement. The UA Strategic Plan, the UA statement and the SGA statement were each violated by Jane Elliott’s divisive and offensive rhetoric, yet there were no consequences or even acknowledgement of such by UA leadership.

I’m also very disappointed that my concerns were not even important enough to warrant contact from you.

Below is a video of Jane Elliott making a girl cry with her insanity in one of her presentations:

American universities should be defunded as long as they promote this racist, Marxist garbage from insane Jane Elliott.

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