Rider University’s political science department typically sends emails to students promoting upcoming events at the school. But when Turning Point USA wanted to host a “White Privilege Is A Myth” event, department chair Barbara Franz wrote back, saying “The [department] cannot support an event that is entitled ‘White Privilege is a Myth’ because the event advertises a false reality, that is not based on scientific facts and a clear understanding of historic realities….It promotes ‘fake facts,’” reported Campus Reform.
Fake facts. You know, as decided by the totally objective arbiter of truth who, according to the CV on her faculty page, has apparently spent the past two decades of her life cloistered away in the echo chamber of academia. Also, I hate using this argument, but one of the speakers refuting white privilege at the planned event is black so if Barbara subscribes to the SJW school of thought, isn’t it her moral duty to defer to his opinion?
Now after the political science chair made those initial remarks, she apparently got harassing emails. But looking through the ones posted in the local Rider News piece, I’ve gotta be honest; they don’t seem all that bad. The header image message says “libtards are destroying America” and called Rider a “snowflake school,” another calls Barbara an “ethnomasochistic” “anti-white racist” — yeah, um, that’s actually not beyond the pale of reason — and this third one mentions “authoritarian censorship” from the “alt-left.”
Well, I don’t think alt-left is really going to catch on, but still, not really harassing. And it doesn’t look like Barbara has reconsidered her perspective and her liberal privilege at all because she told the local outlet “We shouldn’t have to [advertise the event] because we are a political science department. Our [department] is based on empirical, quantitative science. There is no science behind that [white privilege is a myth] statement. Actually, the science points quite in the opposite direction.” She then compared the political science department hosting an event disputing white privilege to an astronomy department advertising a “flat-earth” event.
You heard it here first, fam. If you don’t believe in magic melanin that gets people into college, gets them sick jobs, etc., you might as well be a flat-earther.
Rider University surveyed students on which restaurant they wanted to bring to campus. Chick-Fil-A was one of the students’ top choices, but then the school sent out another survey according to Campus Reform.
Rider business dean Cynthia Newman asked the school to apologize for suggesting that Chick-Fil-A’s Christian values didn’t meet those of the school, but the school instead sent out talking points for representatives to use when asked why Chick-Fil-A wasn’t coming to campus. The business dean, however, wasn’t having any of that.
Rider University’s talking points mentioned diversity, inclusion, and in a particularly ironic part, claimed that an “openness to different views and beliefs is a fundamental value of the university.” Rider’s so open to different views, they’re banning a restaurant based on its support for one. Support that, by the way, has no bearing on the quality of their food. The whole “personal is political” ideology is pretty lame; I mean, do you know how empty my iPhone would be if I just decided to boycott all of the artists who didn’t vote for Trump?
Newman announced that she would resign her position as business dean come the end of August, but plans to stay on at Rider as a marketing professor.
Perhaps the most salient part of this story is that Newman really seems to be considering this issue through her business lens. From the identity politics and unhinged professors to the protests and riots, if Mizzou and Evergreen State have taught us one thing, it’s that letting left-wing lunacy take the reigns isn’t the best idea when it comes to schools’ bottom line.
