ASU Megadonor Yanks $400K a Year Donation After Professor Fired for Holding Event With Conservative Speakers
July 19 | Posted by mrossol | 1st Amendment, Censorship, Education
As Just The News reports, the controversy began with the university’s firing of Ann Atkinson, executive director of the T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development at ASU’s Barrett Honors College. Atkinson says she was laid off last month after she organized an event titled “Health, Wealth and Happiness,” featuring the conservative commentators Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk. ASU, by contrast, says that she was fired because the center lost funding, while claiming that the event nevertheless “was well attended and was successful.”
Atkinson wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal describing what happened. She blasted ASU for their attacks on free speech: “…beneath ASU’s written commitment to intellectual diversity lies a deep hostility toward divergent views.” Her article goes in depth describing the absolutely chilling lengths to which professors, students, and the administration went to try to get the event shut down and her terminated.
They succeeded in getting her fired, but not before the event went on successfully as scheduled:
The sponsor of the T.W. Lewis Center, Tom Lewis, didn’t take too kindly to Atkinson’s firing and promptly yanked his annual funding, causing the Center to shut down in late June. He was alarmed by the University’s blatant attack on free speech, saying in a written statement:
After seeing this level of left-wing hostility and activism, I no longer had any confidence in Barrett to adhere to the terms of our gift, and made the decision to terminate our agreement, effective June 30, 2023.
I regret that this decision was necessary, and hope that Barrett and ASU will take strong action to ensure that free speech will always be protected and that all voices can be heard.
Lewis had been donating to the school for 20 years, so they just cost themselves a lot of cold hard cash with their censorship regime. Hard to argue with this guy’s conclusion:
The Arizona Daily Independent News Network writes that intolerance has been growing on campus:
Over the years, ASU has become increasingly intolerant of speech, especially conservative speech. So much so that in June, Arizona State Rep. Austin Smith called on the Arizona Board of Regents to investigate allegations that officials at ASU have frequently quashed free speech. Smith’s concerns centered around Atkinson’s allegations and the case of student Tim Tizon, who was arrested and charged “for handing out copies of the U.S. Constitution on campus.”
Obviously, ASU’s clear bias against conservatives is antithetical to a university’s mission, part of which is to expose students to different philosophies and thoughts.
State Republicans agree and are now investigating ASU’s behavior:
Following the incident, Republicans in the Arizona Senate launched a new committee to take a closer look at the state of free speech in public universities, particularly regarding ASU’s treatment of the Prager and Kirk program. A hearing will be held on Tuesday featuring testimony from Atkinson herself, as well as Prager, ASU religion and philosophy professor Owen Anderson, and talk radio host Seth Leibsohn.
They need to hold Arizona State to account and ensure garbage like this is erased from our woke colleges and universities.
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