EDITORS' CORNER
OPINION: Once again, college crybullies need a safe space … as Crowder ‘could perpetuate hate, bigotry, and ignorance‘
Right on the heels of the “controversy” surrounding the nearby University of Delaware debate on the gender binary — for which those offended created an “alternative” event — the University of Pennsylvania now is in a similar boat.
Popular conservative podcaster Steven Crowder is scheduled to debate a UPenn Education Professor Jonathan Zimmerman on campus April 10, and the student paper The Daily Pennsylvanian decided to highlight event staffers who think it’s not a good idea.
According to the paper, the venue Penn Live Arts has “quietly coordinated” the debate, which is to be moderated by senior and former UPenn College Republicans President Mia Antonacci.
The D.P.’s James Wan notes early in his piece that Crowder has been accused of “racist” and “homophobic” remarks, as well as trafficking in “misinformation” about the 2020 presidential election.
These, among other things, have made some of the “diverse” and “inclusive” Penn Live Arts employees wary of having to work the debate.
“[T]he debate could perpetuate ‘hate, bigotry, and ignorance into the world and into University of Pennsylvania students,’” said one anonymous PLA staffer. “Most of our concerns come from not only the content that people working will have to hear and endure, but also the audience that it will bring and what could happen before the event or what could happen after the event.”
Another staffer said “It feels like free speech is a trojan horse issue to platform/amplify the voice someone who profits from generating hate speech towards minorities.”
The latter added “This is obviously a very tense, loaded time, but it also directly impacts people’s safety,” noting there should be “more communication” about the event with PLA staff and campus in general.
A different employee said when some workers “raised concerns” about the debate, they were told it was a “First Amendment and free speech” matter and that no one would be “forced to work it” if they didn’t want to.
Still another PLA staffer decried the lack of “empathy” for staffers being put in difficult “positions.”
Despite noting Crowder’s controversies, Wan apparently couldn’t find any about Zimmerman. Like the fact that he opined Barack Obama should have been allowed to run for a third term.
Or claiming Donald Trump is an “existential threat” to American democracy (and his fellow academics were helping him win in ’24).
Or calling it “terrifying” that UPenn apologized to female swimmers for allowing a man to swim on their team.
Oh, and don’t forget how he defended CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin after the pundit was caught masturbating on a Zoom call.
I sent Wan all of these instances via email; he did not respond.
Overall, I do think Zimmerman is one of the better academics when it comes to free speech, although he seems to be an attention-seeker who tries too hard to appease everybody. For instance, he favored sanctioning fellow UPenn prof. Amy Wax for alleged racist comments made in class.
To their credit, Zimmerman and U. Delaware Professor Joel Pust for the most part buck the blue-area college trend of crybully-student intolerance for even the mildest dissenting opinions.
