LSU BACKS DOWN ON THREAT
TO BOOT ANTI-RACISM ACTIVIST

Updating this post from last Thursday.

Well, after threatening last week to expel the student activist who has been the most vocal opponent of LSU's policy of tolerance for the mixing of school spirit and racism, there have been a few developments.

First this from LSU's student newspaper the Reveille:

Black faculty defends Phillips

In the letter, which was co-signed by 13 faculty members, the members asked Albert to reconsider the charges because “[Phillips’] actions do not necessarily elevate to the sorts of behaviors prohibited by the LSU Code of Student Conduct.”

The letter describes Phillips as a leader and says the University should be celebrating or at least quietly tolerating his actions.

“In our opinion, students will conclude that Mr. Phillips is being punished because his views oppose those of the administration,” the letter said.

Click here for the rest.

Then this, again from the Reveille:

Students petition for Albert's resignation

Rousell said he started the petition because he was upset about the way Albert handled recent diversity issues and her interactions with students.

The petition ended by asking Albert to resign from her position with the University.

The petition described Albert’s actions toward Collins Phillips III, who was charged with Student Code of Conduct violations regarding his leadership of protests against the purple and gold Confederate flag.

The petition said her actions were “an unfair, unfounded and extreme misuse of power.”

Click here for the rest.

God only knows what else has been going on behind the scenes, but I can't help but think that those two stories above have something to do with this story below.

Again from the Reveille:

University drops charges against Phillips

Phillips said University officials dropped the charges because “it would be best for both sides.”

He said he was told the charges were officially dropped because “no progress was being made on the current situation with the amount of attention it was receiving.”

Phillips said he was presented with paperwork that explained when and where each violation occurred that dated back to last semester’s Confederate flag protests.

“It disturbed me that every centimeter of a move that the SEC made was being documented,” Phillips said.

Phillips said the documented violations were not completely accurate.

When asked if he thought the Code of Student Conduct was compliant with First Amendment rights, Phillips said he thought he could get in trouble for answering the question truthfully.

Several times throughout Phillips’ interview, Phillips told The Daily Reveille that he was frustrated because he could not say what he wanted without fear of consequence.

Click here for the rest.

If you don't already know, Katrice Albert is the university's vice provost of equity and diversity, and she's the one who issued the libel charges against student anti-racism activist Collins Phillips. I'm not surprised that the charges were dropped because all Phillips said was something to the effect that Albert isn't doing her job, an assertion with which I agree: essentially there was no case; Phillips has not only a right but also a responsibility as a student to criticize university officials. However, it's pretty clear now that the motivation behind these bogus charges was not to remove a pest; rather, this was all about scaring him into silence, and it sounds like the effort may have been successful.

This whole sordid tale has been outrageous. LSU should be going nuts trying to find a way to get the purple and gold Confederate battle flag off campus without violating the first amendment. Instead, they tolerate these racist banners and pound the critics of their wrong-headed policy. Ultimately, Albert isn't so much to blame herself; she's apparently trying to do what she believes is her job, which makes her a pawn of much bigger institutional fish. That is, it seems pretty clear that LSU's upper administration fears alienating the money that keeps the school going. Consequently, they've chosen to tolerate these southern swastikas so as to not offend the wealthy donors who embrace the flag. I know they're in a pinch, but that doesn't matter: a university is a beacon for intellectuality and cultural diversity; the Confederate battle flag stands in stark contradiction to such a principle. Either LSU does it's damndest to find a way to greatly decrease the flag's visibility on campus or this university is a sham of a school.

And if that means that I get less money and fewer tuition breaks from the university then so be it. If my funding is coming from old school Louisiana racists, I don't want it. It's dirty money.

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