There’s turmoil at Tennessee Tech.

Let’s start at the beginning — this one’s a doozy.

Turning Point USA describes itself thusly:

Turning Point USA is a…non-profit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk. The organization’s mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government. Turning Point USA believes that every young person can be enlightened to true free market values.

Since its founding, Turning Point USA has embarked on a mission to build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country. With a presence on over 2,500 campuses, Turning Point USA is the largest and fastest-growing youth organization in America.

What the group believes:

• The United States of America is the greatest country in the history of the world.
• The US Constitution is the most exceptional political document ever written.
• Capitalism is the most moral and proven economic system ever discovered.

Now on to Tennessee Tech University, where three professors reside:

• Andrew Smith, associate professor of English
• Julia Gruber, associate professor of German
• Andrew Donadio, associate nursing professor (and adviser for Turning Point USA)

From there, we move to Cookeville, TN, where the local school board considered forming a committee to replace Algood Middle School’s mascot, the Redskins.

That project failed to launch.

Subsequently, at a recent school board meeting, Donadio literally applauded.

Gruber — who wanted the mascot gone — was sitting nearby.

According to Inside Higher Ed, she texted Smith about the clapping.

Donadio said Monday that he did clap after the mascot decision, both because he’d have to deal with the budget implications of any change — estimated to be as much as $70,000 — in his role as a county commissioner, and because he opposed shifting mascots on principle.

“I don’t like changing things like that just because you have a small group of people who complain. I’m not a fan of that,” he said. Any committee charged with rethinking the Redskins name would have also drawn out the process, he said, as it’s hard enough for a group of people to “to agree on the flavor of orange juice.”

In light of it all, Gruber and Smith allegedly (apply that word to all of this) cooked up a plan to show Donadio what’s what.

They created fliers featuring Donadio’s photo and positioned them around the university, mostly at the nursing school building.

The caption:

This racist college professor thought it would be a great idea to help start a Tennessee Tech chapter for this national hate group, where racist students can unite to harass, threaten, intimidate, and terrorize persons of color, feminists, liberals, and the like, especially their teachers. Their organization created a national ‘Professor Watchlist’ to harass and intimidate progressive educators, including many women, African-American, and Muslim professors.

The Professor Watchlist, per its site, is dedicated to “exposing bias on campus” and “unmasking radical professors.”

Continuing the caption:

Professor Donadio and Turning Point USA: You are on our list. Your hate and hypocrisy are not welcome at Tennessee Tech. No unity with racists.

The claims concluded with a humdinger:

Hate speech is not free speech.

Ever Wonder What Happens at College? Two Professors Post Fliers Calling Another Professor a Racisthttps://t.co/g0gRMLI1eV pic.twitter.com/gySQoStAwd

— Alex Parker (@alexparker1984) April 22, 2021

In response to the fliers, Donadio alerted campus police. Security footage proved Smith and Gruber were the culprits.

Tennessee Tech determined the duo had violated its policy on professional conduct.

Among their defense: free speech.

Ironically, [Smith] said, Tennessee has some of the country’s strongest campus speech protections. They’re just not always applied fairly, he added.

Gruber agreed, saying she wished that Tennessee Tech took free speech as seriously as it apparently takes the Second Amendment…

The provost is now in possession of the final investigative report.

No disciplinary decisions have yet been made.

This last year must’ve been a stressful one for Smith and Gruber.

Smith claims he lost his job as a pastor over his involvement in Black Lives Matter protests.

For Gruber’s part, she’s glad at least Donadio doesn’t overtly say he’s a white supremacist.

In a Facebook post, she accused him of affiliation with the Proud Boys (whose leader is not white).

Speaking to the Herald-Citizen, the professor said she’s “relieved” he doesn’t call himself a racist:

“I am relieved to learn that Mr. Donadio has issues with being called a racist. This tells me that he does not identify as one. I would therefore like to extend an invitation to him to help us in our anti-racist activities on campus and in our community.”

So there ya go.

Ever wonder what goes on at college?

If ever that thought crosses your mind, think of this.

-ALEX

See more pieces from me:

International Olympic Committee Rules on Athletes Demonstrating ‘Political, Religious or Racial Propaganda’

Following Adam Toledo’s Shooting, Chicago May Make Cops Ask for Permission to Chase Suspects

Peloton Peddles Wokeness by Schooling Staff on the Racism of Common Language

Find all my RedState work here.

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