Expert warns college about ‘facilitating such abuse of students’
A constitutional expert, Jonathan Turley, who has not only testified before Congress on constitutional issues but also has represented members in court on those same topics, is warning a small college in Maine that it is entering the dangerous waters of “facilitating such abuse of students.”
The warning comes in a dispute at the school, Eastern Maine Community College, where a professor reportedly “attacked a Christian conservative student for writing an essay about gun control.”
The student, Katherine Parker, accused English instructor Carol Lewandowski “of engaging in raw political bias.”
Further, Parker said the school failed to support her constitutional rights.
Assigned to do a speech, Parker chose the topic of the 2nd Amendment. When she submitted a draft to Lewandowski for review, “Parker said that she was told to change topics and was ridiculed over her religious and political beliefs,” the report said.
The teacher apparently told Parker to “avoid proselytizing with logical fallacies in a college class,” apparently condemning her 2nd Amendment statements as a “logical fallacy.” She then added “Wasn’t your former speech a testimony to finding Jesus. Did Jesus pack heat?”
The teacher wrote, “I find this 2nd amendment nonsense exhausting and highly recommend you choose a different topic since this one is not one I can easily grade, given my own disdain for the misinterpretations of the second amendment…Hate to tell ya, but guns DO kill….You clearly do not care about people as much as you care about guns. Your argument is a solid representation of that. For fairness to you and to me, please choose another topic.”
Lewandowski continued with the insults, the report explains, stating, “And think again about Jesus packing heat. Really. You and your ilk drive me nuts with your hypocrisy. Guns kill. Own it.”
The teacher soon admitted, “Please change your topic as I earlier requested as this is a trigger issue for me. No pun intended…I admit I cannot assess the gun issue objectively.”
Turley commented, “One would think that such an abusive and politically biased attack on a student would result in the termination of the professor. However, Parker alleges that the community college did not seem inclined to take action against Lewandowski. Parker says that she spoke to EMCC Dean of Academics Lynn Hunter, who ‘assured me that discrimination was not tolerated at the community college, but she did not give me a clear answer when I asked her how she felt about what the teacher said to me — she assured me that she would be getting both sides of the story.'”
He explained, “Such abuse of a student over political and religious views should result in the termination of the professor. However, we have seen a high-level of toleration (and even support for) anti-conservative and anti-Republican positions by faculty. That includes teachers in Maine calling for Trump supporters to be ‘taken out.'”
He continued, “It is now common to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating ‘detonating white people,’ denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements. One professor who declared that there is ‘nothing wrong’ with such acts of violence as killing conservatives was actually promoted.”
“We have not heard directly from Professor Lewandowski, but these communications are shocking. If true, the failure of the community college to take action immediately against Lewandowski is a chilling reminder of how higher education has lost its moorings. By retaining Lewandowski, the college is not just allowing but facilitating such abuse of students.”
He said, “What happened to this student is the very antithesis of the values supporting higher education.”