Author Archives: jimbacon1953

What the Free Speech Committee Should Have Written

Posted on June 8, 2021 | Leave a comment

by Walter Smith

Last week the University of Virginia Board of Visitors approved a statement produced by the Committee on Free Expression and Free Inquiry (See “UVa Affirms Commitment to Free Speech…. at Least in Theory.) This is what the statement should have said:

Free speech has been the bedrock of the University of Virginia from its founding and shall be as long as it shall exist.

The right to speak freely, without fear of recrimination for stating an unpopular view, is the exception in history. Tyrants in all aspects of life — governmental, civic, economic and academic — seek to suppress speech with which they disagree. Yet the answer to speech that offends is more speech. Our founder, Thomas Jefferson, the “author of liberty,” dreamed of a University where “…we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

Craven UVa Board Cancels More History

Posted on June 6, 2021 | Leave a comment

by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia Board of Visitors took another big step in purging its “white supremacist” past by voting Friday to take down the statue to George Rogers Clark. The Clark statue, critics say, perpetuates “the myth of brave white men conquering a supposedly unknown and unclaimed land.”

The cost of removing, relocating and storing the statue is estimated to cost $400,000. University officials expect the statue to be removed by the end of the summer. Then the university will start talking to students and the Indigenous community about what should replace it, reports The Daily Progress.

The removal, initially recommended by the UVa’s Racial Equity Task Force, advances the systematic extirpation of any names, memorials or statues that can be tangentially connected to “white supremacy.” The dismantling of the Clark statue is part of a larger set of recommendations to “repair relationships with Indigenous communities” by establishing a “tribal liaison position,” found a Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies, recruit Native and Indigenous faculty. And, of course, it is consistent with the denigration of anyone associated with the slave-holding era. Continue reading →

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Posted in Memorials

UVa Affirms Commitment to Free Speech… at Least in Theory

Posted on June 5, 2021 | 1 comment

by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia Board of Trustees has voted to approve a statement affirming the university’s commitment to free expression and free inquiry.

“All views, beliefs and perspective deserve to be articulated and heard free from interference,” states the Statement of the Committee on Free Expression and Free Inquiry. “Free and open inquiry … is at the heart of the principles of academic freedom. … Likewise, the educational endeavor for students requires the freedom to speak, write, inquire, listen, challenge and learn.”

President James Ryan appointed the committee and asked it to craft a set of principles to guide the university. The committee heard testimony from students and faculty attesting to the widespread sentiment that certain views should not be expressed in or out of the classroom for fear of triggering intense social media backlash or punitive measures by administrators (many incidents of which have been documented in Bacon’s Rebellion and The Jefferson Council website).

It remains to be seen how the Ryan administration will interpret and apply these principles. The committee’s Statement genuflected to the fact that the university has not always fulfilled its aspirations — “exploiting enslaved laborers and excluding Black Americans, women, and groups and viewpoints disfavored by the majority.” It made no explicit mention of the suppression of conservative views antithetical to a core of radical students or the failure of the Ryan administration to stand up for them — things that are happening now, not a hundred years ago. Continue reading →

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Posted in Freedom of speech and expression

When Did UVa Law School Profs Stop Caring about Civil Liberties?

Posted on June 3, 2021 | Leave a comment

Robert Mueller

by Walter Smith

For some time I have been beyond disappointed by the deafening silence from the University of Virginia Law School over its apparent lack of concern with basic abuses of civil liberties. Once upon a time, lawyers zealously defended American civil liberties such as free speech and the right to counsel. Once upon a time, they abhorred government abuses in the defense and intelligence arenas. Once upon a time, they defended concepts like equal justice under the law, speedy prosecutions, fair trial forums, and the right to participate in all civic and economic aspects of our country.

Members of my father’s UVa Law School class of 1948 fought real Nazis. They not only understood law, they understood the evil of a society without it. In between his graduation in 1948 and mine in 1984, lawyers still defended these glorious abstractions – free speech, free assembly, fair trial, checking governmental abuse. I never had one professor who advocated stifling speech. I don’t believe any professor would have turned a blind eye to governmental agencies abusing citizens. I was too young for the McCarthy hearings, but I remember the Church Committee, Watergate, Viet Nam hearings, and Iran Contra.

Seeing UVa law professor Danielle Citron advocate the banning President Trump from Twitter bordered on unthinkable. Continue reading →

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Posted in Freedom of speech and expression, Leftist orthodoxy

UVa President Ryan on UVa Religious Studies Professors Attacking Evangelicals

Posted on May 24, 2021 | Leave a comment

UVa President James Ryan

by James C. Sherlock

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan was kind enough to read my column detailing the unacceptable behavior of two Department of Religious Studies professors.

There are two “counts” I charged against them:

First, slander. All speakers trashed all white evangelicals as racists and “confederates” who are sorry the South lost the Civil War. Two of them were UVa professors speaking at a University-sponsored webinar.
Second, systemic slander. The webinar had a topic, “Informed Perspectives: White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America,, which demanded a speaker for the evangelical community for a balanced discussion. None was invited. It was an academic lynch mob.

President Ryan wrote to me:

“I assure you we’re taking this matter seriously and looking into it.”

He did not have to write that. I take him at his word. Continue reading →

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Posted in Leftist orthodoxy

We Are Losing the Soul of Our University

Posted on May 20, 2021 | Leave a comment

TO: All UVA Alumni and Friends Who Care About Our University

FROM: The Jefferson Council

RE: We Are Losing the Soul of Our University

DATE: May 20, 2021

On the eve of Final Exercises at our University, we, the founding members and Board of the Jefferson Council, feel the need to send out this letter regarding very troubling developments at our beloved University. Every aspect of the legacy of UVA is under threat from our President and his hand-picked administration. They have a social justice agenda that is in many cases contrary to the values at UVA that made our institution so unique and so beloved.

We cannot solve everything in one fell swoop. Like the adage about how to eat an elephant, the answer is one bite at a time. Therefore, we have narrowed our focus and set our goals to address four core issues at UVA that we know to have wide-spread alumni support. These four core issues of The Jefferson Council are as follows:

Open Dialogue: We will fight for the University to adopt and enforce a set of principles providing for open dialogue from all parties within the University. No one should be vilified or physically abused or have their grades docked for expressing a contrary opinion on any issue, political or social.
Mr. Jefferson: We will fight to protect the legacy of Mr. Jefferson as our Founder and as a Founding Father of America.
The Lawn: We will fight to remove all signage from the Lawn doors and preserve the sanctity of the Academic Village.
The Honor System: We will fight to resuscitate and preserve the Honor System at UVA. It has been severely weakened and will only survive with a concerted effort by the Board of Visitors, the Administration, the alumni, and the students.

Continue reading →

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Posted in Freedom of speech and expression, Honor code, Intellectual diversity, Memorials

Tagged Lawn controversy

UVa’s Latest Lurch Toward Leftist Uniformity

Posted on May 16, 2021 | Leave a comment

Malo Andre Hutson

by James A. Bacon

The University of Virginia has bolstered its reputation as a Leftist intellectual monoculture with the announcement that Malo Andre Hutson, director of Columbia University’s Urban Community and Health Equity Lab, will become the new dean of the School of Architecture.

At Columbia, Hutson belongs to both the Earth Institute and the Columbia Population Research Center. He has written about gentrification, environmental justice, and urban health, a trifecta of trendy Leftist disciplines. His latest book is entitled, “The Urban Struggle for Economic, Environmental and Social Justice.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Intellectual diversity, Leftist orthodoxy

Religion Faculty Hate Speech against Evangelical Christians

Posted on May 16, 2021 | Leave a comment

UVa President James Ryan

by James C. Sherlock

Thirty percent of Virginians identify as evangelical Christians. So, one can never say that the University of Virginia, in targeting them with school-sponsored hate speech, doesn’t swing for the fences.

Members of UVa Department of Religious Studies faculty have unloaded on white evangelicals in as wide-ranging and comprehensive an example of collegial vitriol as you will ever watch or read.

The hatred spewed out is visceral and brooks no dissent. Continue reading →

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Posted in Intellectual diversity, Leftist orthodoxy

A Final Indoctrination for Final Exercises

Posted on May 15, 2021 | Leave a comment

Melody Barnes served as Director of White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama.

by Walter Smith

Next weekend is Finals (graduation in University of Virginia speak). The Class of 2021 class arrived at the University just after the traumatizing Unite the Right rally, lived through the backlash against Donald Trump, suffered through the suppression of unpopular conservative views, was afflicted with the Engagements requirements of the new curriculum, and missed about a third of the normal four-year college experience thanks to COVID-19 hysteria. As if the climate of the last four years was not poisonous enough, the administration squeezed in one one final indoctrination experience. I speak of assigning Melody Barnes to be a featured speaker.

Ms. Barnes co-chairs the Democracy Initiative at UVa’s Miller Center. Besides working for years for Senator Kennedy, she served eight years under President Obama. If you check out the news feed attached to her CV linked above, you will find more than enough evidence to conclude she is a rabid partisan – just the right person to lead the Democracy Initiative! Continue reading →

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Posted in Speakers, Panels and Events

Tagged Intellectual Diversity Scorecard