The Decline of Western Civilation Continues Unimpeded on College Campuses

UC Berkeley Takes on Microaggressions as a ‘Public Health’ Issue

By Katherine Timpf — May 8, 2015

After all, they can kill you.


University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health held a town hall last week examining the harmful effects of microaggressions — because apparently microaggressions now fall into a category that used to be reserved for the likes of diabetes and cancer.

According to a piece in the Daily Californian by MichaZheng, soon to be a holder of a master’s in public health, Berkeley “convened a town hall meeting where students, staff, faculty and alumni all gathered to discuss issues concerning racism, white privilege and how the lack of diversity was harming students.”

“Many public health undergraduate and graduate students alike brought up their experience with microaggressions, which are a form of unintended discriminatory behavior that still have the same, and sometimes even worse, effect as conscious, intended discrimination,” he writes.

“We needed to act — and act urgently — with respect to the professors who were committing these harmful acts of microaggression toward students.” — Micah Zheng

If you think a meeting of public-health scholars to discuss unintentional mini-insults is a bit of an overreaction, Zheng would likely tell you that you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, the town hall was not enough, he says — his concern that the school wasn’t taking microaggressions seriously enough had him spending his final days on campus without “complete closure.”

“In the back of my mind, concerns rattle about the many crises and conflicts that have not been resolved,” he writes.

Zheng believes that Berkeley should be doing more to hold “faculty and administration accountable for their actions — especially if these actions included microaggressions.” (Yes, “especially,” because apparently accidentally offending someone is the worst thing someone could do.)

“We needed to act — and act urgently — with respect to the professors who were committing these harmful acts of microaggression toward students,” he says.

Zheng explains that the current policy of having students fill out teacher evaluations on “antiquated paper worksheets” — for which “manual labor is then required to transcribe into typed notes” — is just not getting enough professors in trouble for microaggressions. He suggested that students should instead be “required to fill out both anonymous course and professor evaluations before receiving our final grades each semester.”

But maybe he’s not overreacting after all, and microaggressions really are an issue damaging public health and demanding this kind of attention. After all, it was just a few months ago that Harvard released a study suggesting that microaggressions might actually make you die sooner because they’re cumulatively just too much to deal with. Maybe Berkeley’s just following the science.

— Katherine Timpf is a reporter for National Review Online.
 
Does it make me a bad guy that I wonder what would happen to these poor micro-aggression victims if the grid collapses?
 
Aw, with degrees in gender and media studies, she should know better ; ) And wtf is a diversity officer?


Student diversity officer in racism row could lose her job after allegedly tweeting 'kill all white men'

  • Bahar Mustafa, 27, is the student union Welfare and Diversity Officer at Goldsmiths University in London
  • She was criticised after planning diversity meeting that banned white men
  • No confidence petition alleges she tweeted #killallwhitemen and called someone 'white trash' on official account
  • Ms Mustafa says in her response that the hashtag was an 'in-joke'

28DB823B00000578-3087790-Bahar_Mustafa_27_the_university_equality_officer_at_the_centre_o-a-67_1432039141887.jpg


full article
 
Aw, with degrees in gender and media studies, she should know better ; ) And wtf is a diversity officer?


Student diversity officer in racism row could lose her job after allegedly tweeting 'kill all white men'

  • Bahar Mustafa, 27, is the student union Welfare and Diversity Officer at Goldsmiths University in London
  • She was criticised after planning diversity meeting that banned white men
  • No confidence petition alleges she tweeted #killallwhitemen and called someone 'white trash' on official account
  • Ms Mustafa says in her response that the hashtag was an 'in-joke'

28DB823B00000578-3087790-Bahar_Mustafa_27_the_university_equality_officer_at_the_centre_o-a-67_1432039141887.jpg


full article

I guess this is a situation where political correctness came back to bite the anarcho-communist on the ass.
 
http://theadvocate.com/news/12669113-123/lsu-professor-fired-for-using

by Charles Lussier
June 29, 2015


An LSU associate professor has been fired for using curse words and for telling the occasional sexually-themed joke to undergraduate students, creating what university administrators describe as a “hostile learning environment” that amounted to sexual harassment.

A faculty committee that reviewed her case gave a few “notable” examples: Saying “F*** no” repeatedly in the presence of students, using a slang term for vagina that implies cowardice and telling a joke that the quality of sex gets worse the longer a relationship lasts.

...
 
Advocacy group distributes sexual 'consent contracts' to college students
By Ashe Schow • 7/7/15 12:09 PM


The Affirmative Consent Project, which advocates for "yes means yes" sexual consent policies, has been distributing "consent contracts" to college students across the country.

The contract states in big red letters: "YES! We agree to have SEX!" (emphasis original), and asks participants to take a photo together holding the contract. If a camera can't be found, then the participants would need to fill out the form included on the back of the contract.

The group provided the Washington Examiner with an image of the form, which simply states that on this date (fill-in-the-blank) "We agree to have consensual sex with one another." The form also provides spaces for two parties to sign and print their names.

070715-consent-contracts-form.jpg


Even that probably wouldn't be enough of a defense against an accusation, when all an accuser has to do is say she was too drunk to consent to the photo or the sexual activity. And remember, if the handwriting on the back is noticeably slurred by both parties (meaning the accused was also too drunk to consent) it doesn't matter, only the accuser's word matters.

The contract comes as part of a "http://instantconsent.com/collections/frontpage/products/consent-matchbook-consent-kit-with-condom-contract-consentconscious?variant=3589790401," which also includes a pen (to sign the contract, duh), breath mints and a condom. The kit comes in either a canvas or faux suede bag with the group's logo — the male and female gender symbols combined at the circle.

Alison Berke Morano, who helped found the Project, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that "yes means yes" policies have spread "faster than I've seen other movements."

Morano made the comment in response to the University of Minnesota's adoption of the "yes means yes" policies.

Kimberly Hewitt, who investigates sexual assault accusations at U of M as part of her position as vice president of equal opportunity and affirmative action, told the Tribune that these policies help clarify "complex" situations.

"Most sexual assault investigations that we do ... are complicated," Hewitt said. "It's a college campus, so in many cases there's alcohol involved. People may or may not be in a relationship. ... They're all individual, and they're all really complex."

The solution advocates have proposed has been to vastly expand what constitutes sexual assault under "yes means yes" policies, and shift the burden of proof from an accuser to the accused. This turns the criminal justice system upside down, and gives the accused no way to defend themselves outside of a video tape. Because how else can you prove that one did receive a "yes" at every stage of sexual activity when the other person is saying no such consent was given?

Morano's group appears to be on the extreme side of "yes means yes." Her website provides http://affirmativeconsent.com/what-is-affirmative-consent/ about "yes means yes" policies, including the notion that "Consent is to be determined from the perspective of the complainant." This effectively removes any defense, because an accuser who said "yes" could turn around and say he or she didn't really mean it or said it out of fear. With the burden of proof shifted on to the accused, and the adoption of the low "preponderance of evidence" standard (meaning adjudicators have to be just 50.01 percent sure the accusation is credible) there would be no way to defend oneself from an accusation.

Morano's group also links prominently (in the first section of what "affirmative consent" actually means) to a description from the San Gabriel Valley/Whittier chapter of the National Organization for Women. This chapter states that the "only 'yes' is a 'yes.' " And given that the policies claim consent can't be ambiguous, a clear, verbal "yes" does seem to be the only acceptable response.

But the SGVW group goes further, claiming "yes means yes" policies ensure "it's the man's responsibility to 'get a verbal yes.' " Their interpretation of the law — which so far appears to be the accepted interpretation at colleges and universities across the country — is that women can only give consent and men can only obtain consent. Far from bringing the sexes together and knocking down gender walls, this interpretation reinforces persistent stereotypes — that women are never the aggressors and that men always want sex.

In addition, the SGVW group states plainly: "Under the Affirmative Consent Standard, a drunk woman cannot consent to sex, because her judgment is incapacitated by alcohol." (Emphasis original.)

This group's interpretation of "yes means yes" policies perfectly dovetails with what critics are saying about the law's consequences — so much so it could have been a parody. But it is indeed a project of a NOW chapter.

This is why these policies are ill-advised. They make defending the wrongly accused nearly impossible and empower false accusers.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2567726
 
Advocacy group distributes sexual 'consent contracts' to college students
By Ashe Schow • 7/7/15 12:09 PM


The Affirmative Consent Project, which advocates for "yes means yes" sexual consent policies, has been distributing "consent contracts" to college students across the country.

The contract states in big red letters: "YES! We agree to have SEX!" (emphasis original), and asks participants to take a photo together holding the contract. If a camera can't be found, then the participants would need to fill out the form included on the back of the contract.

The group provided the Washington Examiner with an image of the form, which simply states that on this date (fill-in-the-blank) "We agree to have consensual sex with one another." The form also provides spaces for two parties to sign and print their names.

070715-consent-contracts-form.jpg


Even that probably wouldn't be enough of a defense against an accusation, when all an accuser has to do is say she was too drunk to consent to the photo or the sexual activity. And remember, if the handwriting on the back is noticeably slurred by both parties (meaning the accused was also too drunk to consent) it doesn't matter, only the accuser's word matters.

The contract comes as part of a "http://instantconsent.com/collections/frontpage/products/consent-matchbook-consent-kit-with-condom-contract-consentconscious?variant=3589790401," which also includes a pen (to sign the contract, duh), breath mints and a condom. The kit comes in either a canvas or faux suede bag with the group's logo — the male and female gender symbols combined at the circle.

Alison Berke Morano, who helped found the Project, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that "yes means yes" policies have spread "faster than I've seen other movements."

Morano made the comment in response to the University of Minnesota's adoption of the "yes means yes" policies.

Kimberly Hewitt, who investigates sexual assault accusations at U of M as part of her position as vice president of equal opportunity and affirmative action, told the Tribune that these policies help clarify "complex" situations.

"Most sexual assault investigations that we do ... are complicated," Hewitt said. "It's a college campus, so in many cases there's alcohol involved. People may or may not be in a relationship. ... They're all individual, and they're all really complex."

The solution advocates have proposed has been to vastly expand what constitutes sexual assault under "yes means yes" policies, and shift the burden of proof from an accuser to the accused. This turns the criminal justice system upside down, and gives the accused no way to defend themselves outside of a video tape. Because how else can you prove that one did receive a "yes" at every stage of sexual activity when the other person is saying no such consent was given?

Morano's group appears to be on the extreme side of "yes means yes." Her website provides http://affirmativeconsent.com/what-is-affirmative-consent/ about "yes means yes" policies, including the notion that "Consent is to be determined from the perspective of the complainant." This effectively removes any defense, because an accuser who said "yes" could turn around and say he or she didn't really mean it or said it out of fear. With the burden of proof shifted on to the accused, and the adoption of the low "preponderance of evidence" standard (meaning adjudicators have to be just 50.01 percent sure the accusation is credible) there would be no way to defend oneself from an accusation.

Morano's group also links prominently (in the first section of what "affirmative consent" actually means) to a description from the San Gabriel Valley/Whittier chapter of the National Organization for Women. This chapter states that the "only 'yes' is a 'yes.' " And given that the policies claim consent can't be ambiguous, a clear, verbal "yes" does seem to be the only acceptable response.

But the SGVW group goes further, claiming "yes means yes" policies ensure "it's the man's responsibility to 'get a verbal yes.' " Their interpretation of the law — which so far appears to be the accepted interpretation at colleges and universities across the country — is that women can only give consent and men can only obtain consent. Far from bringing the sexes together and knocking down gender walls, this interpretation reinforces persistent stereotypes — that women are never the aggressors and that men always want sex.

In addition, the SGVW group states plainly: "Under the Affirmative Consent Standard, a drunk woman cannot consent to sex, because her judgment is incapacitated by alcohol." (Emphasis original.)

This group's interpretation of "yes means yes" policies perfectly dovetails with what critics are saying about the law's consequences — so much so it could have been a parody. But it is indeed a project of a NOW chapter.

This is why these policies are ill-advised. They make defending the wrongly accused nearly impossible and empower false accusers.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2567726
These fucking people are nuts only fucking ugly people who've never been able to go out and land some ass at a club or on the reverse never got the first dick interested in their ass at a club or party come up with this insanity. Yea break out a contract in that moment it's gonna really get things going good Lord.
 
Jesus fucking Chris. I kept getting angrier and angrier while reading that.

THIS type of shit is the breading grounds for all the entitled little pussies. A fucking cess pool of inadequate limp dicks.

"too many opposing views" are you fucking kidding me?
 

Trigger Warning: ‘Racist Statue’ Student Official Accuses Herself Of Rape And Bans Herself From Safe Spaces


A high profile student activist who has campaigned against “rape culture” has resigned from all political position and barred herself from National Union of Students (NUS) events and safe spaces because she is “unsafe.”

She said she had “failed to properly establish consent before every act” during a sexual encounter at the NUS annual conference, and had “touched somebody in a sexual manner” in a night club three years ago.


In a statement released on her Facebook page, which has now been taken down, reproduced by OUSU Women’s Campaign, Teriba began:

“[TW sexual assault, sexual violence] This statement explains why I will be stepping back from political campaigning from now. (I owe you a proper explanation, so will go into details here which you may find triggering.)

“At this year’s NUS Black Students’ Conference, I had sex with someone. The other party later informed me that the sex was not consensual. I failed to properly establish consent before every act. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions. I should have taken sufficient steps to ensure that everything I did was consensual. I should have been more attentive to the person’s body language. In failing to clarify that the person consented to our entire encounter, I have caused serious irreparable harm.

“In a separate incident, in my first year of university, I was alerted to my inappropriate behaviour whilst drunk in a club, where I had touched somebody in a sexual manner without their consent. Therefore this is not an isolated incident. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions.​



Screen-Shot-2015-10-11-at-12.09.35-640x480.png
 
Hahaha. What the fuck man? What is wrong with these people?


Trigger Warning: ‘Racist Statue’ Student Official Accuses Herself Of Rape And Bans Herself From Safe Spaces

A high profile student activist who has campaigned against “rape culture” has resigned from all political position and barred herself from National Union of Students (NUS) events and safe spaces because she is “unsafe.”

She said she had “failed to properly establish consent before every act” during a sexual encounter at the NUS annual conference, and had “touched somebody in a sexual manner” in a night club three years ago.


In a statement released on her Facebook page, which has now been taken down, reproduced by OUSU Women’s Campaign, Teriba began:

“[TW sexual assault, sexual violence] This statement explains why I will be stepping back from political campaigning from now. (I owe you a proper explanation, so will go into details here which you may find triggering.)

“At this year’s NUS Black Students’ Conference, I had sex with someone. The other party later informed me that the sex was not consensual. I failed to properly establish consent before every act. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions. I should have taken sufficient steps to ensure that everything I did was consensual. I should have been more attentive to the person’s body language. In failing to clarify that the person consented to our entire encounter, I have caused serious irreparable harm.

“In a separate incident, in my first year of university, I was alerted to my inappropriate behaviour whilst drunk in a club, where I had touched somebody in a sexual manner without their consent. Therefore this is not an isolated incident. I apologise sincerely and profoundly for my actions.​



Screen-Shot-2015-10-11-at-12.09.35-640x480.png
 
Counselling services at college have doubled because millennials are having 'emotional crises over everyday life', psychologist claims
  • Peter Gray says student resilience has plummeted in recent years
  • Says those in college seek more counselling because of rising 'neediness'
  • Staff are now afraid to give low grades because of 'emotional fragility'
  • Faculty members feel obliged to do more 'hand-holding' with their students
  • Another academic says students haven't learned to 'soothe themselves' - because their parents solved all their problems growing up
  • Two students saw a counselor and even phoned the police because they saw a mouse in their off-campus apartment
 
Students demand Thomas Jefferson statue removed from university, call him ‘racist rapist’

Some students at the University of Missouri have called on administrators to remove a statue of founding father Thomas Jefferson, suggesting in a petition and during a recent protest that the campus sculpture is offensive, oppressive, and celebrates a “racist rapist.”

“Thomas Jefferson’s statue sends a clear nonverbal message that his values and beliefs are supported by the University of Missouri. Jefferson’s statue perpetuates a sexist-racist atmosphere that continues to reside on campus,” states the Change.org petition. “…Removing Jefferson’s statue alone will not eliminate the racial problems we face in America today, but it will help cure the emotional and psychological strain of history.”

The petition was launched two months ago by student Maxwell Little, who told the Missourian he and his peers were inspired in part by the success of the removal of the Jefferson Davis statue from the University of Texas.
 
So... "let's erase history because we're a bunch of pussies and need to be coddled."


Fuck. Ever article i read here just pisses me off. And I'm not even using tren.
 

Hundreds of Yale Students Protest Alleged Racism of Halloween Costumes on Campus

"accepting obnoxious or offensive Halloween costumes would prevent students who feel marginalized from feeling safe."

"I was called a “white colonizer” and told to stay in the hallway to be “educated.” "

"protesters chanted, “Genocide is not a joke,” called attendees “traitors” and “racists” and, in at least one instance, spat on an attendee..."


yale-university-march-against-racial-insensitivity-AP-640x480.jpg

Ryan Flynn/New Haven Register via AP
by Dr. Susan Berry9 Nov 201

A twisted string of allegations about racism on the campus of Yale University led hundreds of students to protest Monday, just days after a conference on the future of free speech was disrupted by allegations of racism and two weeks after protests against alleged racism and cultural insensitivity were held over student Halloween costumes.

According to the New Haven Register, the “March of Resiliency” blocked traffic on Chapel Street in New Haven, as students demanded inclusiveness with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender identity. During the march, students chanted, “We out here! We been here! We ain’t leaving! We are loved!”

Protesters disrupted a forum about the future of free speech held by Yale University’s William F. Buckley, Jr. Program on Friday over an alleged remark about a previous alleged racist comment on campus.

During the fifth annual private Buckley conference on “The Future of Free Speech,” student Gian-Paul Bergeron posted on the Facebook group “Overheard at Yale” a quip by Buckley Program speaker Greg Lukianoff: “Looking at the reaction to [lecturer and Yale associate master] Erika Christakis’ email, you would have thought someone wiped out an entire Indian village.”

The quote referred to Christakis’ email response to Yale’s Intercultural Affairs Council, which warned students against wearing potentially racially and culturally insensitive Halloween costumes.

According to Zachary Young, president of the Buckley Program—writing at the http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/11/09/young-free-speech-not-disruption/ (Yale Daily News)—the disruption at the conference began when a student rushed to the front of the lecture hall during a panel and began taping posters across the wall of the room. When a Yale police officer asked the student to leave, he replied, “You’re going to have to carry me out,” and was promptly removed.

Once news of Lukianoff’s remark hit Facebook, student protesters lined up outside the lecture hall, reports Young. He continued:

Some demanded that we immediately add speakers of their choosing to the conference. Others tried to get into the lecture hall, which was oversubscribed and required preregistration. Police stood guard at the doors to ensure our symposium could go on as planned…

For nearly two hours, the crowd outside grew in size and volume. Social media attacks on our organization intensified. When I offered the protesters leftover cookies — intended as a nice gesture — I was called a “white colonizer” and told to stay in the hallway to be “educated.” As audience members exited the lecture hall, protesters chanted, “Genocide is not a joke,” called attendees “traitors” and “racists” and, in at least one instance, spat on an attendee affiliated with the Buckley Program.

Our entire conference on free speech had come under attack.

According to http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/11/02/silicon-associate-masters-halloween-email-draws-ire/ (Yale Daily News), Erika Christakis defended students’ rights to wear the costumes of their choosing. She wrote:

Is there no room anymore for a child or young person to be a little bit obnoxious… a little bit inappropriate or provocative or, yes, offensive? American universities were once a safe space not only for maturation but also for a certain regressive, or even transgressive, experience; increasingly, it seems, they have become places of censure and prohibition.

In response to Christakis’ comment, over 740 Yale students, alumni, and faculty signed an open letter that referred to her email as “offensive” and one that dismissed the rights of minority students. Student Ryan Wilson—lead writer of the letter—said accepting obnoxious or offensive Halloween costumes would prevent students who feel marginalized from feeling safe.

“Your email equates old traditions of using harmful stereotypes and tropes to further degrade marginalized people, to preschoolers playing make believe,” the letter to Christakis reads. “This both trivializes the harm done by these tropes and infantilizes the student body to which the request was made.”

Christakis, who asserted she was “misquoted and misunderstood by some people,” has stood by her letter and even tweeted a link to an article in The Atlantic titled, “The Coddling of the American Mind.”

Yale student Nickolas Brooks—who takes a class with Christakis—defended her, noting that, because of the allegations, many students now have an inaccurate perception of her.

“Her view that universities are overly censored is one that everyone can agree with, Brooks said,” reports Yale Daily News, “emphasizing that just because she addressed both censorship and racial insensitivity does not mean she endorses the latter.”

The unrest at Yale comes as the chancellor of the University of Missouri’s campus in Columbia stated he will resign, just hours after the university’s president, Tim Wolfe, also said he was stepping down in response to allegations about racism on campus.

“What good is the First Amendment when people are shamed for holding dissenting views?” asked Young at Yale. “Those protesters who called me a ‘white colonizer’ and posted on Facebook ‘unfriend me if you disagree’ are creating a campus culture that is hostile to free expression and the exchange of ideas.”

“It is a culture in which students and faculty are afraid to voice their opinions,” he added. “It is a culture of conformity, intimidation and silence.”

 
Too bad they didn't expel all those students pushing around the reporter as well.

Mob-Violence-Inciting University Of Missouri Media Professor Resigns

Tyler Durden
11/11/2015

A victory for common-sense? Who knows anymore. But following the disgusting debacle on Mizzou's campus yesterday, Melissa Click - the media professor who incited mob violence against a reporter who was doing his job - has reportedly resigned. As NYTimes reports, Click noted in a statement, "I regret the language and strategies I used," which we suspect, roughly translated, means "I regret being caught bullying a reporter." The university seems to be distancing itself from Click, noting that her position was a "courtesy appointment."

If you haven’t seen the video of Click from yesterday, you must watch it immediately, and trust me, you need to watch it from beginning to end to truly understanding how dangerous Melissa’s Click’s request is. She is essentially advocating a mob of student inflict violence upon another student merely for taking pictures in public.



full article
 
It figures..

Was The Poop Swastika Incident At Mizzou A Giant Hoax?

November 10, 2015 By Sean Davis

Something stinks at the University of Missouri. A reported https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/06/black-grad-student-on-hunger-strike-in-mo-after-swastika-drawn-with-human-feces/ (incident of vandalism) at Mizzou sparked university-wide protests, a boycott by the school’s 4-5 football team, and eventually the resignation of the university’s president and chancellor.

There’s only one problem: no evidence of the alleged incident, in which https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/06/black-grad-student-on-hunger-strike-in-mo-after-swastika-drawn-with-human-feces/ (a poop swastika on the wall of a dormitory restroom) was reported, has ever been made publicly available. Did this incident occur as reported, or was it an immaculate defecation that formed the foundation of an unimaginable deception?

According to Billy Donley, the president of Mizzou’s Residence Halls Association (RHA), the poop swastika was reported at approximately 2:00 a.m. on October 24, 2015.

“On Saturday, October 24th, at 2:00am an individual came into one of the restrooms in Gateway Hall and drew a swastika on the wall with their own feces,” Donley wrote in a letter several days after the alleged incident. “This event happened while many students, including myself, were already asleep.”

Later in his letter, Donley noted that he only found out about the alleged vandalism incident “via a flyer posted on the walls” of the dorm.

Although Donley did not respond to repeated requests for comment prior to publication, The Federalist spoke with two RHA staffers while trying to get in touch with Donley. Neither had personally witnessed the poop swastika. When asked if there was any photographic evidence of the alleged incident, one staffer replied, “Not to my knowledge.”

Frankie Minor, the director of residential life at Mizzou, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on whether he personally saw the poop swastika or any photographic evidence of it.

The Federalist also attempted to contact http://munews.missouri.edu/contact.php, the associate director of the University of Missouri News Bureau, who http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/update-swastika-drawn-with-human-feces-found-in-mu-residence/article_4f9c57f0-7f4c-11e5-9f88-a324bf705d1d.html (previously told the Columbia Missourian on Oct. 30) that the incident had been immediately reported to Mizzou police. Basi did not respond to requests for comment prior to the publication of this article.

Calls to the University of Missouri Police Department, which http://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/higher_education/update-swastika-drawn-with-human-feces-found-in-mu-residence/article_4f9c57f0-7f4c-11e5-9f88-a324bf705d1d.html (responded to and investigated) the alleged poop swastika incident, also failed to yield any evidence of the poopstika.

Multiple activists on Twitter pointed to this photo as proof that the incident occurred as reported, but a Google search for the same image shows that it has been floating around the Internet for nearly a year. A reddit thread from November of 2014 appears to contain the earliest publication of the photo in question, meaning that it most certainly does not constitute proof of the incident alleged to have occurred at Mizzou on October 24, 2015.

Maj. Brian Weimer, the public information officer for the Mizzou police department, told The Federalist that he also did not personally see the poop swastika that was reported to police. When asked if anyone in the police department personally witnessed the swastika, Maj. Weimer clammed up and referred all questions about the incident to the university’s https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/gc/custodian_of_records.

The Federalist also repeatedly contacted @ConcernedStudent1950, the Twitter account representing Mizzou protesters who issued a series of demands of university administrators after the alleged poop swastika incident made headlines. The individuals running the @CS1950 account failed to produce any photographic or documentary evidence of the incident prior to publication of this article.

While a mere absence of evidence is not synonymous with evidence of absence, the complete lack of any verifiable photographic evidence of the alleged poop swastika and the lack of any named eye witnesses raises serious questions about the veracity of a racially charged incident of vandalism that eventually led to the resignation of the University of Missouri’s two top administrators.

Did the incident happen as reported, or did two university administrators resign over protests that were sparked by a hoax? And if the incident did happen as reported, a proposition for which no publicly available evidence currently exists, how did university administrators and law enforcement authorities confirm that the vandalism was driven by racial animosity, as opposed to being promulgated as a public relations stunt meant to tar the university for failing to provide an environment free of racist invective? It would not be the first time a public university fell victim to a high profile PR stunt that was later revealed to be a fabrication. Either way, students, their parents, university employees, and Missouri taxpayers deserve solid, verifiable answers based on clear evidence about what exactly transpired in that Gateway Wall bathroom in the early morning of October 24.

Under the provisions of Missouri’s broad public records laws, The Federalist has requested from the University of Missouri copies of any and all records relating to the alleged vandalism, including any police or incident reports describing the investigation of the poop swastika by law enforcement authorities, as well as any photographic records of the alleged swastika, and will make that information available if and when it is received from university officials.
 
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