Typical slop fronting as defending a student who had her valedictorian speech cancelled.
Things are not well on America’s college campuses. The disgusting antisemitism that seems only to be building – and campus administrators’ lackluster response – has led to some truly frightening displays.
This is the introduction to the article, which is supposedly defending free speech. Instantly criticizing school admins for not having a strong enough response to the protests because its not like they haven’t stuck the pigs on the protestors. Also “truly frightening displays” links to an article that talks about the rabbi who warned Jewish students not to attend classes in person, which itself fails to point out any “frightening displays” of anti-semitism.
Now, Tabassum may well have repugnant personal views and her speech may stoke division on campus. Even so, her academic accomplishments should not be undermined because of fears of possible violence and a speech she likely hadn’t even written yet.
Got to love how being pro-Palestine is described as having “repugnant personal views” and “stoking division on campus.”
But the of the article is conflating Tabassum’s pro-Palestine position with some transphobe. A college decided to let the transphobe have a speech.
Gaines, who is often described in the media as an “anti-trans rights activist,” is a lot more than that. She is an accomplished former NCAA competitive swimmer who became well-known after she tied transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the 200-yard NCAA freestyle championship race in 2022. Following that experience, Gaines has become an outspoken defender of fairness in women’s sports and speaks frequently on the issue at universities around the country.
The author seems to have a rather glowing opinion of Gaines. There’s no pointing out that Gaines’ transphobic views are leading schools and politicians to effectively taking away trans students’ rights to compete in the sports that they love. No pointing out that she too could be “stoking division on campus” like she did in describing Tabassum’s speech.
Gaines is used to attracting pushback – and even violence – on campuses, so it’s probably no surprise to her that there are factions of the Adrian community who aren’t happy that she will speak at the school. A student LGBTQ+ group started an online petition urging the college to “disinvite” Gaines. It now has more than 1,600 signatures.
Again, a very disingenuous description of something “disturbing” or “violence”. The linked article just shows her getting yelled at. No one put a hand on her on either of the videos in the linked article.