by Rob Shimshock
Professors and a former administrator at The Evergreen State College bashed an “independent” report on the school’s spring 2017 riots.
Evergreen President George Bridges allegedly nominated the report‘s three authors, who were then confirmed by the Washington school’s board of trustees, reported Campus Reform.
“Somehow I must have missed the customary ‘April Fools!’ proclamation that normally follows these types of hoaxes, fake stories, and practical jokes,” Evergreen veterinary medicine professor Mike Paros said, describing the report in an op-ed obtained by Campus Reform. “Faculty and staff are also embarrassed but remain silent out of fear of losing their jobs.”
Most of his students “don’t want to be shielded from ideas and content they find discomforting and challenging,” Paros noted and that “many feel humiliated by the vulgar behavior of fellow students and the administration’s cowardly reaction.”
Evergreen’s former Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Michael Zimmerman disputed the “independent” nature of the report by claiming that Bridges selected the panel’s members and that the president viewed a draft of the report before the release of the final version.
“The only thing that seems reasonable is that [Bridges] wanted to make sure it didn’t say anything he wasn’t happy with. He was paying for it, he wanted to make sure it said what he wanted it to say,” Zimmerman said.
The report authors interviewed 15 individuals associated with Evergreen, 12 of whom were faculty and three of whom were students. All of the students had a good opinion of the riots. The report authors did not interview former professor Bret Weinstein or Evergreen’s former police chief, Stacy Brown, Zimmerman noted.
“I think the review team should have interviewed all the principals, on all sides,” Evergreen economics professor Peter Dorman told Campus Reform. “They should have solicited the views of Bret Weinstein, [professor] Naima Lowe, and anyone else in a position to provide evidence and interpretation. Above all, they should have interviewed many students on all sides of this controversy.”
Dorman referenced Lowe, who addressed colleagues refusing to take part in the college’s 2017 Day of Absence in which white people were supposed to segregate from black people. “You are now those motherf***ers that we’re pushing against,” Lowe said. “You can’t see your way out of your own ass.”
The report confirmed “the standard narrative about a campus gone wild with violent ultra-leftism,” Dorman said, remarking that “by avoiding all the uncomfortable questions, it leaves their answers to right wing ideologues.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Evergreen State for comment but received none in time for press.
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Rob Shimshock is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Rob on Twitter and Facebook.
