A professor may be in a mess.
In my estimation, there are two rightful responses to the lion’s share of others’ opinions.
An illustration:
1. “I think _________.”
“Okay.”
2. “I think _________.”
“So?”
But culture currently operates alternately. Words — if you haven’t heard — are violence.
Apropos of that, University of Florida Professor Greg Pingree has a potential problem.
As relayed by The College Fix, last semester, he helmed a course called Law, Religion, and Sexual Identity.
During a private Zoom conference, a student allegedly asked, “It isn’t transphobic to think trans women are not women, right?”
“It’s not transphobic. It’s just your view. And I welcome you to express that in my class,” Greg reportedly replied.
In an evident homage to Evel Knieval, he sent a copy of the convo to the whole class.
The jump:
As it turns out, someone submitted a complaint to the school’s “RESPECT Team.”
From the official website:
The purpose of the RESPECT Team is to provide impacted parties of bias incidents opportunities to be heard and supported; understand and respond to situations that affect the University of Florida; educate and inform the community; and create awareness of ignorance and intolerance.
Might only ignorance cause offense?
Either way, the RESPECT Team “provides services to witness(es), bystander(s), targeted individual(s), offender(s), or a member(s) of the community.”
But it doesn’t judge:
The RESPECT Team does not investigate, adjudicate, or take the place of other UF processes or services. Rather, the RESPECT team complements and works with campus entities to connect impacted parties and communities with appropriate support and resources.
The idea for such a group is nothing new.
As I covered in April, a University of Virginia student attending a public discussion questioned the difference between “microaggressions” and just being rude.
A subsequent chain of events saw him escorted off campus and ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation.
In response to his lawsuit, the school commented thusly:
Offensive student speech does not enjoy First Amendment protection.
Will the University of Florida take a similar stance toward instructors?
The college obviously wants to obliterate “bias.”
More from the Fix:
The (transgender) incident was one of 18 reports filed since 2019 with the RESPECT Team, which serves as the school’s…hate crime reporting system. …
Other incidents included:
- During a Zoom meeting hosted by the Counseling and Wellness Center and the campus LGBTQ+ Affairs Office in December of last year, an individual going by the name “Jahseh O” jumped in and began saying things like “Epstein didn’t kill himself” and “cells interlinked.” “Though the content of the Zoombombing appeared not to be LGBTQ specific…the person’s actions were intended to disrupt LGBT related research,” the complainant wrote.
- Also in December, a white female student posted two TikToks of herself dancing and lip-synching to rap lyrics that contained the “N-word.” “Please address this ASAP,” wrote the complaining student. “She clearly does not care about saying this word which is really concerning and outright racist…she must face consequences as this word isn’t to be used by a non-black person.”
The bias battle is broadening.
They’re doing their best at Wellesley Public Schools in Massachusetts:
Snitches Don't Get Stitches: School District Creates 'Bias-Based Incident' Reporting System for Students and Staff
https://t.co/zrlx8oMJ9m— RedState (@RedState) June 15, 2021
Back to Professor Greg, he clearly and calamitously wounded one of his students.
Courtesy of the account comprising the complaint:
“Professor Pingree claims the recording and delivery was an accident and has since removed it, but it was very upsetting to hear a UF Law professor defending and encouraging discriminatory and hateful anti-transgender remarks.”
As previously pointed out, I might’ve gone with “Okay” or “So?”
But that statement itself would likely elicit a complaint.
Hopefully, the physical violence of syllabic sound will be nipped in the bud at U of F — which, also hopefully, isn’t occasionally called FU.
The world is changing.
So are “hate” and “violence.”
May we all pursue peace, and may Greg get justice.
So go the modern ways of “Law, Religion, and Sexual Identity.”
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
Medical School Hosts Seminar on ‘Body Terrorism’ Against ‘Fat LGBTQ+ People’
Another Comedian Takes a Stand Against Vaccine Mandates, Is Willing to ‘Sacrifice a Lot of Money’
Find all my RedState work here.k
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