>Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 09:55:23 -0500
>From: Louis Proyect <lnp3 at panix.com>
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>To: marxism at lists.panix.com, PSN <PSN at csf.colorado.edu>,
> pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu
>Subject: [PEN-L:35538] A new Dark Ages at Virginia Tech
>Reply-To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu
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>
>Chronicle of Higher Education
>Thursday, March 13, 2003
>
>Virginia Tech Bans Speakers With Extreme Views and Relaxes
>Antidiscrimination Clause
>By MEGAN ROONEY
>
>The governing board of Virginia Tech voted on Monday to bar advocates of
>extreme political views from speaking on the campus. Under the new policy,
>student groups must seek the president's approval if they wish to invite
>speakers who support or take part in activities that could be construed as
>"domestic violence or terrorism."
>
>At the same meeting, the Board of Visitors voted to change the
>university's antidiscrimination clause so that it no longer prohibits
>discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
>
>Those decisions were made at the same quarterly meeting on Monday at which
>the governing board effectively ended the use of affirmative action in
>admissions, hiring, and financial aid (The Chronicle, March 12).
>
>"That meeting was an unbelievable step backward," said Edd Sewell, who, as
>president of the Faculty Senate at Virginia Tech, is a nonvoting member of
>the Board of Visitors. "I have been reading a book about Germany in the
>1930s, and I almost feel like I'm experiencing déjà vu."
>
>Neither the resolution concerning political extremists nor the resolution
>about sexual orientation was listed on the agenda that was made available
>to board members before the meeting.
>
>The resolution concerning political speakers on the campus follows a
>February speech given by a member of Earth First, an environmental group
>that advocates such tactics as preventing logging by sitting in trees or
>chaining oneself to a logging site. According to Lawrence G. Hincker, a
>spokesman for the university, that speech raised the ire of a group of
>professors from the department of forestry. Furthermore, the member of the
>Board of Visitors who introduced the resolution, Mitchell O. Carr, is
>president of the Augusta Lumber Co., based in Waynesboro, Va., and is a
>former director of the National Hardwood Lumber Association.
>
>Mr. Carr did not return telephone calls for comment, and Charles W.
>Steger, the university's president, also was not available.
>
>The resolution reads in part: "Be it resolved, no person, persons, or
>organizations will be allowed to meet on campus or in any facility owned
>or leased by the university, if it can be determined that such persons or
>organizations advocate or have participated in illegal acts of domestic
>violence and terrorism."
>
>While the resolution does not define domestic violence and terrorism, the
>Federal Bureau of Investigation's Web Site includes a spectrum of
>political groups in its description of domestic terrorism, including
>white-supremacy organizations and socialist organizations like the
>Workers' World Party and Carnival Against Capitalism. It also cites the
>Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, two groups whose
>representatives have spoken at Virginia Tech during the past two years.
>
>The university is currently reviewing the resolution with the office of
>the state attorney general to ensure its legality, particularly regarding
>the Constitutional guarantees of free speech, free assembly, due process,
>and equal protection.
>
>In an editorial decrying the resolution, the student newspaper, Collegiate
>Times, describes the measure's language as "irrefutably ambiguous," and
>says it "could be applied to many speakers and organizations that have
>visited Tech's campus in recent years."
>
>The board also removed sexual orientation from the list of factors --
>including race, sex, and national origin -- that the university will not
>use to discriminate against students, faculty members, and applicants. Mr.
>Hincker said the board made the change to conform Virginia Tech's rules
>with federal and state laws, which do not include gay and lesbian people
>as a protected class of citizens.
>
>On Tuesday, as academic departments met to discuss the pivotal changes
>enacted by the Board of Visitors, one professor described the campus mood
>as "a brewing storm."
>
>"We're still trying to figure out exactly what happened," the professor
>said. "We're sort of astounded."
>
>--
>
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>