I've been watching this mess at University of Missouri closely. I'm not going to delve into the racial aspect of this. To me, that's a pretty obvious open and shut case. The idiots who make racial (and deadly) threats cannot be defended...ever. That's not free speech, that's screaming fire in a crowded movie theater. That's illegal. They should be arrested and charged.
To me the distressing response is the immediate demand that other people (who didn't make any threats at all) be fired. That's a first reaction now. The University president? OK, I suppose he didn't act fast enough or take it seriously enough. But fired? The professors who stood their ground with protesting students--keeping away reporters? OK, they obviously missed the whole concept of the free press. But fired?
And the professor who told his class to stand up to bullies--Forced to resign? That's just wrong. Read this account of his saga in the Washington Post. Luckily that story has a happy ending.
I know one thing. I wouldn't want to be a college professor in this climate.
