Protesters at Middlebury College refuse to let Charles Murray speak
Hundreds of students rioted at Middlebury College in Vermont this week, preventing a respected libertarian scholar from speaking and leaving one female professor in a neck brace.
Charles Murray was invited by the American Enterprise Institute Club on campus to discuss his book, “Coming Apart,” which chronicles the struggles facing the white working class in the United States. However, a mob first protested and later assaulted both Murray and Professor Allison Stanger.
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More than 450 alumni at the college released a statement before the event declaring Murray’s invitation to speak was “unacceptable and unethical” and “directly endangers members of the community.”
“We hope many of you dissent, and we hope you make that dissent known to whosoever you see fit,” the statement concluded.
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The result was both verbal and physical abuse. Protesters turned their backs on Murray and chanted, preventing him from delivering his scheduled address. As an alternative, Murray was led to a different location where he was recorded on a closed-circuit telecast being interviewed by Stanger. However, even the recording was interrupted as students slammed chairs, screamed and pulled fire alarms, occasionally shutting down the building’s power.
Masked demonstrators then physically attacked both Murray and Stanger as they tried to move to a college administrator’s car. Stanger’s hair was pulled by one of the attackers, twisting her neck and inflicting an injury which required hospital treatment and the use of a neck brace. Once Stanger and Murray made it to the vehicle, demonstrators climbed on the hood, slammed on windows, and ripped a stop sign from the ground and used it to prevent the car from moving.
Even after security cleared a path, Murray’s ordeal was not over. He was later chased from a nearby restaurant when management was warned demonstrators had located him.
Scott Greer, author of “No Campus For White Men,” described the incident as simply the latest example of how universities have become enemies of free speech and actual education.
“You’re forced to conform to orthodoxy or else you’re branded an evil heretic,” he said. “There’s no room for the free exchange of ideas.”
Political correctness is just the beginning. The situation on college campuses is worse than you could ever imagine – and America’s future is at stake. Don’t miss the political blockbuster of 2017 – “No Campus For White Men” by Scott Greer
Murray called the students “seriously scary” and later said he had “never encountered anything close to this.” However, he praised the college administration.
Report from the front: The Middlebury administration was exemplary. The students were seriously scary.
— Charles Murray (@charlesmurray) March 3, 2017
One Elizabeth Dunn reportedly organized the protests. Her LinkedIn profile shows she is specializing in “Gender Sexuality and Feminism Studies and English and American Literatures” at Middlebury as well as serving as “Event Coordinator for Women of Color” and as a member of the “SGA Institutional Diversity Committee.” She is also an editor for “Beyond The Green,” “a radical, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-classist, anti-ableist and anti-homophobic (as well as strongly opposed to all forms of oppression) group that rejects the structurally conservative ‘liberal’ paradigm that exists at Middlebury.”
College president Laurie Patton declared she was “deeply disappointed” by the incident and suggested some of those who participated in the most violent acts were “outside agitators.”
“We must find a path to establishing a climate of open discourse as a core Middlebury value, while also recognizing critical matters of race, inclusion, class, sexual and gender identity, and the other factors that too often divide us,” Patton said in a statement.
Race was at the center of the protests against Murray, as students declared Murray’s research “hate speech” because he has written on issues of class, race and intelligence. Along with the late Richard Herrnstein, Murray authored the 1994 book “The Bell Curve,” which discussed what factors influence intelligence, how intelligence affects life outcomes and the possibility of group difference in intelligence among races.
Leftist critics claim he is a “white nationalist,” though Murray (once married to an Asian woman) strongly denies the charge. He’s also defended his work in the “Bell Curve” and argues scientific research in the decades since the book’s publication has only reinforced the book’s claims.
Murray was also a fierce critic of Donald Trump during the presidential campaign.
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Greer said Murray’s opposition to Trump and his denunciation of racism won’t do him any good in the eyes of his opponents.
“In the words of one student, he’s still a racist in spite of his Trump criticism,” said Greer. “Anyone to the right of The New York Times editorial board is a racist nowadays.”
The Associated Press uncritically echoed the claims of the protesters about Murray in its own reporting on the incident, saying Murray had been “branded” a “white nationalist” in its article. The source for the accusation was the Southern Poverty Law Center, which includes WND and WND Books on its list of “extremists.”
Other journalists blasted the AP’s tactics, declaring it “despicable” and a classic example of mainstream media “bias.”
No way a claim by the leftist Southern Poverty Law center belongs in the lead of this story. Bias, pure & simple–> https://t.co/ilKrvyz2V2
— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 4, 2017
.@brithume AP reporter seems to be @LisaRathke. Citing Southern Povty Law Ctr as neutral source should be firing offense, like faking quotes
— (((Mark Krikorian))) (@MarkSKrikorian) March 4, 2017
“Who has been called”? This is despicable, @AP. https://t.co/U8UA6VC7JJ pic.twitter.com/Xor3IfprXj
— James Taranto (@jamestaranto) March 4, 2017
let’s play this game.
The @AP is fake news.
“The @AP, which has been called fake news, suggested Charles Murray is a white nationalist.” https://t.co/jyLhfQPtAH
— ??Justin Mallone?? (@j_mallone) March 4, 2017
Greer suggested both violent left wing demonstrators and “respectable” journalists are essentially working together to enforce the same repressive agenda.
“The only difference is that the media has more power than these students to affect public opinion,” he said. “They’re both activists with an agenda to push. In this case, they turned a mild-mannered conservative scholar into a dangerous skinhead. It’s ridiculous, but not surprising.”
Greer also said Murray’s surprise at the treatment he received is likely to be short lived. It may have been the first time he had seen students act like this, Greer suggested, but it is unlikely to be the last.
“It’s going to get worse in the near-term,” said Greer. “President Trump is making the Left lose their minds, so we’re going to see more of these disruptions over the next year.”
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Political correctness is just the beginning. The situation on college campuses is worse than you could ever imagine – and America’s future is at stake. Don’t miss the political blockbuster of 2017 – “No Campus For White Men” by Scott Greer