☆ SJSU prof on local college's Equity director firing: Even “nuanced” ideological diff's punished
San Jose State University locked Dr. Elizabeth Weiss out of the skeletal curation facility because she posted an allegedly offensive Twitter photo in 2021. Weiss then sued SJSU for suppressing her First Amendment rights, and the case has reached settlement. Opp Now exclusively chats with Weiss about De Anza College's termination of “not Woke enough” director Tabia Lee—and how both situations highlight narrow-mindedness in local higher ed.
Opportunity Now: Your situation doesn't seem to be an isolated incident. We've noticed a pattern of the local Left ousting well-meaning allies who aren't progressive enough. For instance, the Foothills-De Anza Community College's Equity, Social Justice and Multicultural Education faculty director was fired this March for using meeting agendas and wondering if “Black” should be capitalized if “white” stays lowercase.
Elizabeth Weiss: I do think there are similarities. From what I've read—and I don't know her personally—I think she was wronged. Lee basically was saying, “This is my perspective,” and they fired her for having a different viewpoint. But it wasn't even that different. Just a nuanced difference.
I heard that one of the people accused of bullying Lee was fired and has now been hired at SJSU in a similar position. If that's the case, this does not bode well for the future of SJSU's DEI office either.
The fact is, there's so little room at the university to express variation without getting backlash. My position is that people can disagree with me, but I'd never want to shut someone down because of it. I'd never call to ban their book because I disagree with it. It's not in my character. I've worked very closely with people who hold opposing positions from me on repatriation, and we can respect our differences without resorting to ad hominem attacks.
It's important to maintain diversity of viewpoint at an institution. One of the reasons I was drawn to apply to Heterodox's faculty fellowship is that their slogan is “Great minds don't always think alike.” This is a wonderful way of seeing things. We need to have civil debates again.
ON: The university system used to be a place for these kinds of debates, bringing together diverse viewpoints for intelligent, productive conversation. Can Bay Area colleges get back to that?
EW: To begin with, we need to deep freeze the whole DEI bureaucracy. It's creating a market for people to look for complaints.
And, for faculty members, we must read widely and encourage our students to read widely. In my classes, I'll assign some materials that I agree with and others I disagree with (making sure they showcase the best example, the most convincing argument of that perspective). This challenges students.
Overall, there needs to be a stronger culture of accepting and protecting different viewpoints. Universities need a stronger backbone. If a cancel culture mob is after one of their faculty members, they need to let it ride, and possibly ignore it as opposed to react to it. They should reach out to the faculty member about accusations before posting emails to the campus community and beyond about how disgusted they are. In a word: transparency. This will help us get back to an environment that allows for more civil debate.
After SJSU, I'll continue to fight for the freedom of speech and inquiry. I'm not done yet. I'll just be at a different location.
Read more here about free speech diatribes at local institutions, including San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Chabot-Las Positas Community College, and Los Gatos Town Council.
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