As a form of retirement package, Evergreen State College settled a lawsuit with two of its professors on the same day that they resigned from the school. Professors Bret Weinstein and his wife, Heather Heying, received $500,000, $450,000 directly to the couple and $50,000 to pay their attorneys’ fees.
Naturally, the college claims that the Weinsteins’ complaints were without merit:
In making this agreement, the college admits no liability, and rejects the allegations made in the tort claim. The educational activities of Day of Absence/Day of Presence were not discriminatory. The college took reasonable and appropriate steps to engage with protestors during spring quarter, de-escalate conflict, and keep the campus safe.
Safe that is for everyone who agrees with the student revolutionaries’ claims that the campus was rife with racism and intolerance toward people “of color.” When Weinstein complained that those demands went too far, he was attacked. More than 50 student dissidents and revolutionaries entered his biology class, confronted him with epithets and charges of racism. They shut down the campus for three days in June, caused more than $10,000 in property damage, and forced the graduation ceremonies to be held off-campus.
Weinstein told the Wall Street Journal just how bad it was that day:
An angry mob of about 50 students disrupted my class, called me a racist, and demanded that I resign. My “racist” offense? I had challenged coercive segregation by race. Specifically, I had objected to a planned “Day of Absence” in which white people were asked to leave campus on April 12….
On a college campus, one’s right to speak — or to be — must never be based on skin color.
His challenge was totally unacceptable both to the student revolutionaries and the administration that allowed the riots to get out of hand. The Weinsteins claimed in their lawsuit:
(Evergreen) has permitted, cultivated, and perpetuated a racially hostile and retaliatory work environment. Through a series of decisions made at the highest levels, including to officially support a day of racial segregation, the college has refused to protect its employees from repeated provocative and corrosive verbal and written hostility based on race, as well as threats of physical violence.
TESC consistently has failed to set and enforce necessary boundaries in the workplace on campus, selectively has chosen not to enforce its student Code of Conduct, and sent the unmistakable message that the school will tolerate (and even endorse) egregious violations (and even crimes) purportedly to advance racial social goals, diminishing the collegiate experience for all, and fostering a racially hostile work and retaliatory environment for faculty and staff.
When The New American reported in July on the injustice being promoted in the name of justice, it said that “it’s not likely this lawsuit will ever see the inside of a courtroom. It’s much more likely that negotiations are going on at the moment between Weinsteins’ attorney and school officials to make this whole incident disappear.”
That’s exactly what happened. In its statement Evergreen officials admitted that the Weinsteins’ case was so strong that the case could drag on for years and cost the school millions: “Years of expensive litigation would drain resources and distract from our mission.”
Those resources come from taxpayers and not from the radical students who took over the campus. Accordingly a couple of Washington state lawmakers, upset about the whole matter, are moving to shut off funding for the school and either privatize it or sell it for whatever it might be worth. Republican state representative Matt Manweller said: “I think that when a public university sends a message either directly or indirectly that you’re not welcome on campus based on your skin color, you have crossed the line.” State senator Phil Fortunato was even more emphatic:
What I see is an institution dedicated to indoctrinating kids into being perpetual victims. We saw videos of students disrupting classrooms, bullying administration [officials], blocking police, and intimidating those around them.… The response from the college president was to thank them for it! It is unbelievable.
Shutting off state funding or selling off the school for whatever it might be worth to private interests are not only the answers to this insanity, they are remedies that should have been applied long before Weinstein was forced to sue for restitution.
Image: Screenshot of ad for Evergreen State College
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at [email protected].
Related article:
Liberal Professor to Sue Evergreen for $3.8 Million Over “Racially Hostile” Campus Environment
