The Clemson University student government recently passed a resolution to protect against bias on campus, but the measure ignores the political bias many conservatives at the school face.
Student senators Roann Abdeladl and Libby Milano authored the resolution, which sought to address “public bias incidents directed towards Clemson students, faculty, and staff.”
The measure, approved last month, calls on the administration to “recognize and respond to any and all bias incidents as ignorant, intolerant, and bigoted.” But the measure excludes political ideology among its lists of unacceptable biases.
The measure cited examples of bias from Clemson University and at other campuses in the recent past.
One example involved flyers found on campus in 2017 promoting white supremacy with phrases such as, “White people, are you tired of being blamed for everything?” and “Wondering why only white countries need multiculturalism?”
Clemson’s Executive Leadership Team did not adequately denounce the flyers fast enough, students complained at the time.
The resolution also cited a more recent instance in August 2018, when Confederate flags were spotted in and around Clemson’s campus as part a state-wide flagging event by the South Carolina Secessionist Party. Following this, the student government passed a bill that denounced any display of Confederate flags on or near campus.
While examples of bias against Clemson students on the grounds of race, gender, religion and ethnicity are cited, the resolution ignored or excluded instances of bias based on political ideology. This despite the fact that acts of bias toward one’s political beliefs occur frequently at Clemson and other campuses.
The student who co-penned the resolution defended that decision in an email to The College Fix.
“Political ideology is not included because we adopted criteria from various US non-discrimination acts, such as Title 9 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and other government documents,” Milano said. “We also adopted Bucknell University’s definition of bias incidents, which does not include political ideology. This resolution is to protect the qualities of a person outlined in our nation’s official documents.”
Bucknell University’s definition of bias states it is the “completed, attempted, or threatened abusive or hostile acts against persons, property, or an institution, where such acts manifest evidence that the target was intentionally selected on the basis of the target’s actual or perceived age, class, color, disability, ethnic/regional/national origin group, gender, gender identity, gender expression, race, religion, sex or sexual orientation, including any hate crime.”
Thus many examples of politically aimed attacks occurring on campus in the recent past would apparently not be considered under this new resolution.
One such instance occurred in March 2018 when a group of vandals destroyed the Clemson Young Americans for Freedom’s “Cemetery of the Innocents” display.
The display served to provide awareness for the tens of millions of victims lost to abortion. A total of 202 white crosses, each one representing 30 abortions, were torn down at Clemson’s Carillon Garden, leaving only 17 standing. Signs explaining the display were found in a nearby bathroom trash can, while the crosses were never rediscovered.
“While we were not entirely surprised that this happened as it was/is a controversial subject, Clemson YAF is disappointed that someone would violate our free speech rights by vandalizing our display,” Morgan Bailey, former chair of Clemson’s YAF chapter, said at the time of the incident. “We did not provoke anyone and were open to civil dialogue with those who agree and disagree with us.”
Another notable instance of political bias occurred in October 2016 involving Milo Yiannopoulos. Milo, famous for being a conservative firebrand, spoke to nearly 800 Clemson students at a sold-out event titled “Make Clemson Great Again.”
Multiple posters advertising the event around campus were ripped down. The Clemson students hosting the event through WeRoar revealed a series of hateful threats on social media from students who opposed Yiannopoulos’ views. For example, students planning to attend were warned they might get egged and have paint balloons thrown at them, WYFF reported.
During the speech, Milo condemned Clemson’s rising tuition prices, political correctness, progressive professors, and censorship on college campuses.
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