Holidays were under attack this year on college campuses
Throughout 2019, Campus Reform has reported on several leftist attacks against traditional American holidays. As the year comes to an end, Campus Reform has compiled the five most outrageous.
1. University of New Orleans ‘Suggestive’ note ban could make for tough love on Valentine’s Day
Sending “suggestive” notes could land the University of New Orleans students in hot water. A university policy at the school bans “suggestive” notes to prevent discrimination and harassment, but free speech experts were concerned about the vagueness of the policy, and how it might be handled during Valentine’s day.
“It’s hard to see where the line would be drawn,” Speech First President Nicole Neily said.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s senior program officer Laura Beltz had similar qualms about the policy. “Harassment isn’t protected by the First Amendment, but this policy is written so broadly that it includes protective speech, Beltz said. “If students are left wondering if sending a valentine will land them in trouble, the university is not living up to its legal obligation to protect students’ free speech rights.”
2. Georgetown University prof compares 4th of July themed shoe to swastika, burning cross
A Georgetown university professor made comments comparing the Betsy Ross flag to the swastika and KKK cross, after Nike made the decision to pull its 4th of July themed shoe featuring the flag amid controversy. “Words matter. Symbols matter, too. Why don’t we wear a swastika for July 4th? ‘‘Cause, I don’t know, it makes a difference. The cross burning on somebody’s lawn? Why don’t we just have a Nike celebration of the [cross]? Well, because those symbols are symbols of hate,” he said in an interview with MSNBC.
He also explained that the Betsy Ross flag is offensive because “it hails from the Revolutionary period...which was deeply embroiled in, you know, enslavement” in which he cited George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as slaveholders. He also said that “right-wing white supremacists have used it as a rallying cry for their own cause.”
After the segment, the professor publicly denied having made the comparison, but later told Campus Reform that he regretted his statement.
3. STOP Columbus Day? Big Ten student gov demands ‘Indigenous People’s Day’
The Association of Big Ten schools voted on a resolution calling for the official recognition of “Indigenous People’s Day” instead of Columbus Day. The resolution, “In Support of the Declaration of Indigenous People’s Day” was sponsored by the student government at the University of Iowa, and it proposed that each Big Ten School change Columbus Day to “Indigenous People’s Day.” Even though Columbus Day is recognized by the Iowa governor in a proclamation every year, the University of Iowa decided not to recognize it “nor promote [it] through social media or programming.”
[RELATED: 5 craziest campus leftist arrests of 2019]
4. MSU offers tools to teach children about Thanksgiving ‘Day of Mourning’
Michigan State University published an article stating that Thanksgiving should be a “Day of Mourning” and included resources and educational materials for young students. This was to provide “an opportunity for non-native youth to explore Thanksgiving from the perspective of Native Americans and Indigenous people.” The article cited the story of the friendship of Wampanoags and the pilgrims as “largely marked by hostility, racism, oppression, and genocide.”
With Christmas around the corner, a Columbia University professor argued that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a “queer” icon in a New York Times opinion piece. The professor transitioned into a woman at age 42 and argued that the children’s movie relates to transgenderism in that “things can turn out all right, if only you gain agency over your own life.” She used Hermey the Elf who did not like to build toys and Rudolph as examples of outcasts, and she related the story to her life. She also suggested that conservatives “miss the point” of Christmas and expects them to be “infuriated by the suggestion.”
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