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UT is trying to cover up a liberal bent

by Adrienne Royer

Institutionalized bias, anti-American sentiments and political discrimination are currently funded by The University of Tennessee while faculty and administration members ignore the activities.

Sukhmani Singh Khalsa, a columnist for The Daily Beacon, the UT student newspaper, wrote a column published Nov. 13 titled, "Liberal Issues Committee Desperately Needs Changes." His column exposed his research that the Issues Committee, a UT Student Activities organization that receives $90,000 from UT each year, has sought to only bring partisan and biased speakers to campus. According to its website, the Issues Committee is, "dedicated to providing extracurricular education, that examines the most pertinent issues in a creative and balanced manner." However, the Issues Committee has only brought two conservative speakers in the last three years, but has welcomed speakers such as Scott Ritter, a known propagandist for Saddam Hussein, and Michael Moore.

Amid a campus debate over the Issues Committee, Khalsa received evidence that members of the Issues Committee made racially tainted threats against him while openly advocating a liberal, partisan agenda through e-mails sent to committee members and the faculty advisor, Edee Vaughan, via UT's e-mail system. Issues Committee member, Justin Rubenstein wrote:

"We shouldn't let those damn terrorists try to destroy our freedom. If we allow ourselves to be angry or to hesitate in any way, then the terrorists have won. Instead, let's wave the banner of 'the thinker' all over the city of Knoxville; on the library, on our cars, on the Humanities bridge and on pieces of toilet paper stuck to our shoes, and if you see one of those ragheads, shoot him right in the f—ing face."

According to Hilltopics, UT's student manual, a student may be expelled when it appears that the student has acted in a way which or endangers the welfare of any member of the university community. Such violations include: commission of or attempt or threat to commit rape, murder, felonious assault, or any other felonious crime against person or property.

Following the precedent set by the "Blackface" scandal last fall, it seems that the administration would promptly suspend the committee, or at least ask Rubenstein to step down. Despite the fact that these two scandals are similar, they have refused to reprimand Rubenstein or any other member of the committee. They acknowledged that the statements were wrong, excusing it as "a flurry of late night e-mails."

If an entire fraternity was suspended for the actions of a few, should not an entire committee receive the same punishment? Last year, the university set the precedent, and this occasion should be treated in the same manner. In a Nov. 20 Daily Beacon article, Rashi Joshi, chairwoman of the committee was quoted as saying, "I do feel upset that one or two people's personal opinions were misconstrued as the opinions of the entire Issues Committee." However, that is exactly what the university did last year, as seen by a statement made by Loren Crabtree, then-UT provost, in an Oct. 31, 2002 article in The Daily Beacon, "There are standards of behavior that apply collectively toward organizations, and, in this case, the action of a few do color the entirety."

Furthermore, the administration has tried to thwart all attempts that the College Republicans have taken to alert the public of this hypocrisy. In addition to asking club members to contact their state legislators, they held a petition drive before the Vanderbilt game on Nov. 22. They asked Volunteer fans to sign a petition calling for Joe Johnson, interim UT president, to suspend the Issues Committee and demand the resignation of Justin Rubenstein. After two hours of petitioning, J.J. Brown, assistant dean of students, sent UT police officers to stop the drive. The police took the petitioners' identification in order to write a report, but allowed them to stay when they realized that the club was petitioning on a sidewalk, which is city property. This however, was an attempt for the university to silence the club member's rights to freedom of speech. That evening, Michael Combs, the faculty advisor for the College Republicans and a member of the UT Board of Trustees sent an email to their chairman, saying, "I ask that you rescind this call for parents, family, etc., to contact their state representatives. Such action would do far more harm than any good to the university or to your cause. I also sincerely request that you not make direct contact to media outside the campus since this seems to be an internal campus issue at this point. While the media will love to use a good story to sell their papers, going to them with this concern will resolve nothing. I would never discourage you or any student from speaking his or her mind, for taking a stand on issues of concern, or for taking an active stand on how you feel, but it is always very important to be sure that appropriate action is followed and that we always maintain respect for the opposing viewpoint."

Don't the College Republicans have a right to expose the liberal bias existing in one of the favored organizations on campus? While the Issues Committee has permission to debate, conservative columnists apparently receive death threats when they attempt to do the same.

Adrienne Royer is the College Republicans director of communications.