Another Victim of Campus Liberalism: ITHACA COLLEGE

The Signs of Subjugation

It all started in October 2009 when a prominent alumnus called an African American alumna a “savage”. In context, the sentence reads “And so as this young, as the savage sits here, it’s a compliment. I’m really complimenting you, because I think she’s an amazing, an amazing young woman.” This was said by Christopher Burch, who graduated in 1976. The video, which was posted to the college’s website was later redacted.

Amidst the rising of Black Lives Matter in the early ‘10s, and overtly biased media plaguing the campus, it became clear Ithaca College would be the next to fall to liberalism. Six years later, a video was posted to the IthacanOnline Youtube channel where they preceded to glorify protesters talking about white privilege, the difficulties black people face, and the way Trayvon Martin was “murdered”, while selectively editing the Conservative rebuttals. Campus protests and student walkouts were already happening in the months prior, but once the video with the “savage” comments surfaced again, it gave steam to the protesters movement. They became relentless in their efforts to oust President Tom Rochon, despite him playing no part in the incident. The claim was that he did not handle the matter in a way they found suitable. Over six years after the incident occurred, the students called for a vote of ‘no confidence’ against Rochon, despite him offering to hire a Chief Diversity Officer.

Freedom of Speech

The First Amendment was written with the intention of granting citizens the right to voice their opinions openly and freely, particularly against the government, but not exclusively. The boundaries of free speech have been smeared, especially in the last few years. With Antifa becoming increasingly violent towards those with the “wrong” opinions, and major news networks and social medias silencing conservative voices, it seems liberals have made an unofficial addendum to the first amendment.

The first boundary on freedom of speech is hate speech. The left knows this, which is why they’ve begun labelling everything they don’t like as ‘hate speech’. In reality, hate speech is defined as speech which attacks a certain person or group of people. Common sense should follow that facts and statistics are not hate speech. This is the rational conclusion drawn assuming you accept the initial definition of hate speech, which implies words equate to actions simply by calling it an ‘attack’.

Threats are also not covered by the first amendment, but liberals have blurred the lines there as well. A true threat must have the intention to commit a hostile action against someone, and many thin-skinned individuals have begun interpreting certain speech they don’t agree with as ‘threats’. An example of this language policing is seen in the video described above, posted by IthacanOnline which shows a student saying “my friend doesn’t feel safe” because of words, and another saying “do you think money is more important than human lives?” despite Tom Rochon never killing anyone.

Following Rochon’s Resignation

On July 1st, 2017, Tom Rochon will ‘retire’, and will be replaced by Shirley M. Collado. Prior to becoming Ithaca College’s ninth President, she served over 16 years in executive leadership roles. She received her clinical psychology degree from Duke, and specializes in “the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender in trauma experiences and treatment”, as stated by the college. Collado also developed and launched the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network which develops leadership skills in women so they can “posses the skills necessary to tackle some of the country’s most challenging social issues”.

Tom Rochon’s main focuses at Ithaca College were increasing educational quality and controlling student tuition costs. Rochon received his Ph.D in political science from the University of Michigan.

From a Former Student

It became clear after being on campus only a short time that conservative ideas were not tolerated. Diversity meetings became a monthly event, and safe spaces were quickly instituted following the aggression directed at Tom Rochon. The irrational notion that words are violent spread through the minds of students like the plague. Removing Tom Rochon from the school is seen as a win by campus liberals, despite bringing in a President far less able to increase the value of the college, and the value of a degree. My attendance of Ithaca College lasted four years and in that span, I watched it crumble under the growing mob of feminists, minority activists, and social justice warriors. There’s no doubt the entirety of the college will become a safe space, with restrictions on free speech far beyond those interpreted by Supreme Court justices. In due time, Ithaca College will follow the path of other schools such as UC Berkeley, where even professors begin using violence against conservative students.