The Klinzman story out of Kirkwood Community College just keeps looking worse and worse. The president clearly screwed up and is going to have to cough up a settlement as a result. But I want to focus in particular on this little tidbit.
thegazette.com/subject/news/e…
We already knew that a local GOP congressional candidate had publicly called for Klinzman's scalp. Similar comments were made by the chair of the Iowa Republican Party.
facebook.com/kaufmannGOP/po…
Now it turns out that other local politicians were putting pressure on Kirkwood Community College as well.
This is a problem, and it's a problem that we see a lot but (oddly) rarely ever talk about when we have conversations about campus free speech.
That's why recent commentary on the Kirkwood case has been a little frustrating. For example, I liked and appreciated this piece by @robbysoave, but attributing Kirkwood's behavior to safe-space culture misses the point.
reason.com/2019/08/26/ant…
@robbysoave There are many threats to campus free speech out there. One of them -- a big one -- is local Republican politicians. It's just a fact. Republicans do it more than Democrats. Anyone who's paying attention to the issue will agree.
@robbysoave Now, I'm sure that a BIG part of the reason why is that, since campuses are already so liberal, much of the speech that takes place there doesn't anger Democrats. When that's not the case, Dems can be just as censorious. Nobody looks good here.
@robbysoave But if you're talking about campus free speech and you're not also talking about the role of local Republican politicians, I think you're missing a huge part of the story.
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