Va. school hosts 'listening sessions' after removing 'racist' Confederate display

A Virginia university held a “listening session” Tuesday to discuss a Confederate display that it took down earlier in November.

Mary Baldwin University removed a display that featured prominent Confederate figures after a small group of students deemed the exhibit racist, the Staunton News Leader  reported.

“As a result of student concerns and discussions with the artists, the installation has been removed as of last night.”    Tweet This

“In accordance with our values as an inclusive, student-centered campus community, we take seriously the concerns about an art exhibition by two Richmond-based artists installed earlier this week in Hunt Gallery,” the school said in a Nov. 8 statement. “As a result of student concerns and discussions with the artists, the installation has been removed as of last night.”

Shortly after the opening of the exhibit, students began to voice their concerns with the Student Senate and convinced the faculty to get in contact with the artists.

An Instagram page with the screen name “yallracistatmarybaldwinu” began posting pictures of the exhibit, terming it  "racist," “cultural MISappropriation,” and “bigotry.”

“Get this racist artwork out of here!” the page said, posting an apparent image of the exhibit, which featured horseback riders with “Christianity” written beneath them.

MBU students set up a conference with faculty and administrators artists to express their concerns about the exhibit. Faculty and administrators then met with the artists. Ultimately, MBU decided to take down the display on Nov. 7.

The university also announced “listening session” events pertaining to the discussion of the exhibit and student opinion.

“To allow students an opportunity to share their feelings in response to the exhibit and their hopes for inclusive community, a series of listening sessions organized by the Office of Inclusive Excellence will be held next week,” the statement said about the listening sessions.

“It is not open to the public, only members of the MBU community,” MBU spokeswoman Liesel Crosier told Campus Reform.

The artists have released a statement in light of the controversy, defending their exhibit in the process and encouraging civil discourse about the exhibit.

“The work in this exhibition expresses our consideration of the complexity of the situation, the current post-truth context in the U.S. only adding to its complexity,” Williams and Sutherland said. “In seeing the inherent duality of the situation, and leading with forgiveness, we hope art becomes a healing lens through which history can be amended.”

Campus Reform reached out to MBU for additional comment about the decision and the process to pull the exhibit from the gallery. Crosier pointed back to the official MBU statement with no additional comment.

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Parents Rally After Teacher Is Fired for Thanking Students Who Stood for Pledge of Allegiance

When Missouri substitute teacher Jim Furkin thanked students for standing for the Pledge of Allegiance recently, he had no idea he would be booted from the St. Louis school where he taught just for doing that.

Furkin’s ouster has led partners to create an on-line petition opposing the school’s action.

Furkin, 66, recalled the incident at Parkway South High School for station KTVI. First, he said, the announcement came over the public address system that it was time for the Pledge.

“I say, ‘Let’s go.”  The kids get up — 24 kids in class — and 22 got up. I say, ‘Thank you very much, all of you that participated. I appreciate that. I’m sure all of those families that lost loved ones so we could have the freedoms we have today would appreciate that, too.’ That’s what I said.”

But school officials put a different spin on his actions.

“By praising certain students for standing, the students who made the decision not to stand were humiliated and then teased,” said school district spokeswoman Cathy Kelly, according to KMOV.

“The class environment did not cultivate an atmosphere of learning and acceptance of the views and values of others. As you know, our mission and vision are integral parts of teaching and learning in Parkway,” she said.

Furkin said that he had no opportunity to explain himself, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He said a school administrator told him a student was “hurt” by the comments.

“I said, ‘Oh, I didn’t mean it that way, that wasn’t my intent at all,’” Furkin said. “He said ‘We’ll get back to you,’ and then the next day after that, I’m no longer welcome in the building.”

He said Kelly Educational Staffing, the agency the school district uses to book substitute teachers, said he had “bullied” a student.

Furkin said that was not his intent. “I just think that I would try to convey something like that to the kids who just take everything for granted. That flag is not to be taken for granted, in my opinion. It is our symbol of freedom,” he said.

Furkin, who has taught at the school as a substitute for several years, received support from parents. More than 800 people have signed an on-line petition calling for him to be allowed to return to the school.

“Mr Furkin was recently fired from Parkway South high school because he had thanked students for standing for the pledge of allegiance,” the petition reads.

“For me and the people I have heard from in this situation it is unfair for a man to lose (his) job over a situation like that. The goal of this petition is for me and the Park South community to show our overall appreciation for Mr. Furkin’s work over the years. If Mr Furkin is reading this, Thank you for your hard work over the years,” it read.

The school said there were other incidents with Furkin that culminated in his dismissal.

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Australia: University review a win for free speech on campus

The review of freedom of speech at universities announced by the federal government is a timely initiative to ensure the rights and freedoms of all Australians are protected on Australian campuses, The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) said.

The review follows a paper published last month by CIS Senior Research Fellow Dr Jeremy Sammut,  University Freedom Charters: How best to protect free speech on Australian campuses, which called for the introduction of University of Chicago-style free speech charters to promote and protect free and open inquiry in pursuit of truth in Australian universities.

“We welcome the move to hold higher education administrators to account and ensure universities fulfil the role they receive billions of taxpayer’s dollars to perform in a democratic society,” Dr Sammut said.

“As my report showed, the free speech policies developed in Chicago and emulated by other US colleges are international best practice.”

The review, headed by former High Court Chief Justice, Robert French, has been tasked with developing realistic and practical policies to promote free speech on campus that are based the Chicago approach.

“The Chicago model strikes the right balance between protecting legitimate debate and protest and stamping out the kind of disruptive behaviour that interferes with the right to free speech of others like we have seen recently at Sydney University,” Dr Sammut said.

He also welcomed the announcement that the federal government will use the findings of the review to formulate a national declara­tion on freedom of speech that will serve as a benchmark to hold universities to account.

“A key recommendation of my research was the need to ensure that university freedom charters are not toothless tigers to which only lip service is paid, and to impose greater external accountability mechanisms for what universities actually do and don’t do to protect free speech.”

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