Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Student Group Suspended, Faculty Advisor Removed Because Faculty Advisor
Expressed Willingness To Defend Himself:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_09_20-2009_09_26.shtml#1253572518
This strikes me as quite a bad reaction on UNC's part, assuming the
facts in the [1]News & Observer story are correct:
UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp shut down a campus anti-immigration
group Friday after an anonymous flier targeted its faculty adviser,
who then joked about his skills with a Colt .45.
Activists put out the flier at UNC-Chapel Hill this week revealing
the home address of Youth for Western Civilization faculty adviser
Elliot Cramer. Protests at speeches sponsored by the group led to
seven arrests and a broken classroom window last spring.
On Thursday night, chapter President Nikhil Patel warned Cramer by
e-mail that the flier included his name, photograph, home address
and telephone number with the caption, "Why is your professor
supporting white supremacy?" It encouraged students, faculty and
community members to urge Cramer to withdraw from organization.
"I thought I'd let you know so that you can plan for some sort of
protection," wrote Patel, an Indian-American who denies the group
is white-supremacist. "It seems like an indirect threat to your
safety."
"Thanks for your concern," Cramer replied just after midnight,
copying Thorp. "I have a Colt .45, and I know how to use it. I used
to be able to hit a quarter at 50 feet seven times out of ten."
By Friday afternoon, Thorp asked Cramer to step down as the group's
adviser.
"This email is highly inappropriate," Thorp wrote to Cramer. "It is
certainly not consistent with the civil discourse we are trying to
promote."
Thorp said Youth for Western Civilization is out of business until
it can replace Cramer.
"We're trying to come up with a way to have civil discourse and for
different points of view to be shared," Thorp said in an interview
Friday. "Somebody who's the faculty adviser has to show some
restraint."
Cramer said that the flier didn't feel like a real threat and that
his response to Patel was "off-hand" and "light-hearted." He
complied with Thorp's request to resign.
"I'm sorry that I placed [the chancellor] in an awkward position,"
said Cramer, who retired from the psychology department 15 years
ago....
In April, Students for a Democratic Society and other protesters
had shut down a speech by the group's founder, Tom Tancredo, a
former Colorado congressman, calling his group racist and
white-supremacist.
This week, Thorp, who apologized to Tancredo personally in April,
offered up to $3,000 for the group to invite another speaker to
campus. Youth for Western Civilization had been planning to sponsor
a speech in October by former conservative commentator Bay Buchanan
in a reprise of her appearance in March....
Now it may well be that publishing a person's [2]home address is
protected speech; I have so argued, and some [3]courts agree, though
there's controversy about that. But surely publishing a group
advisor's home address -- against a backdrop of criminal thuggery
(albeit short of deadly violence) aimed at that group -- is indeed
potentially threatening. It seems to me that a professor, no less than
anyone else, is entitled to respond by expressing a willingness to
defend himself. (Things might be different if there were a statement
or implication that he'd defend himself illegally, e.g., "if anyone
shows up outside my house, I'll shoot them dead," but I think such an
e-mail by a responsible person would normally be seen as an implicit
assertion that he'd defend himself legally if seriously threatened.)
Nor is there anything uncivil about responding to the publication of a
home address -- not a reasoned argument about why one is mistaken, but
a statement that can reasonably be understood as a threat of personal
attack -- with such a statement. And even if there were, I would think
that a faculty member shouldn't be removed by an administration even
from a post as advisor to a student group simply because of a
perceived lack of "civility," at least on this level.
On top of this, leaving the group unable to function because of the
faculty member's alleged incivility -- an incivility prompted by
thuggishness that apparently came from the group's enemies -- seems
even more unsound. If the university were really committed to
preserving debate, it would make sure that the group could continue to
function, rather than giving the thugs a victory. And this is
especially so since the anonymous flyer will likely further reduce
faculty members' willingness to act as advisers, even if they want to
make sure that the group has an opportunity to exist as a recognized
group on campus.
More from the Daily Tarheel [4]here and [5]here. Thanks to Chad Stoop
for the pointer.
(Note: The story does say, "Patel, a senior biology major, thinks
Youth for Western Civilization has 30 days to remain active while
seeking another adviser, and he thinks the group will find one," but
the story reports that the group is suspended for now.)
References
1.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/higher_education/story/1696297.html?story_link=email_msg
2.
http://www.volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_04_06-2008_04_12.shtml#1207680541
3. http://www.volokh.com/posts/1248280221.shtml
4. http://www.dailytarheel.com/content/ywc-adviser-steps-down-thorps-request
5. http://www.dailytarheel.com/content/ywc%E2%80%99s-adviser-asked-resign
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