Free to be divisive
Dartmouth College lecturer Mark Bray, author of the book "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," has become a popular source for journalists in the wake of the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, clashes between white nationalists and those who oppose them.
That has not made Dartmouth President Philip Hanlon happy.
After Bray appeared on Meet the Press on Aug. 20 and said things such as, "When pushed, self-defense is a legitimate response to white supremacist and neo-Nazi violence," conservative websites that subscribe to President Donald Trump's "all sides" narrative on Charlottesville jumped all over it. Campus Reform, for example, published a story by Sandor Farkas under the headline "Dartmouth scholar endorses Antifa violence."
When Campus Reform reached out to Hanlon for a response to the story, it received this statement from the Dartmouth president: "Recent statements made by Lecturer in History Mark Bray supporting violent protest do not represent the views of Dartmouth. As an institution, we condemn anything but civil discourse in the exchange of opinions and ideas. Dartmouth embraces free speech and open inquiry in all matters, and all on our campus enjoy the freedom to speak, write, listen and debate in pursuit of better learning and understanding …”
There's a lot we agree with in Hanlon's statement. We, too, embrace "free speech and open inquiry in all matters." We, too, support the notion of allowing people the "freedom to speak, write, listen and debate in pursuit of better learning and understanding."
The problem is that Hanlon apparently allowed Campus Reform, Breitbart and the Daily Caller to interpret Bray's words and do his thinking for him.
We agree with the Southern Poverty Law Center's position that nonviolence is the best way to confront hate groups. Bray disagrees, and he does so based on his historical knowledge of fascism and anti-fascism. But in no way does he come across as somebody who is trying to incite violence.
One-hundred Dartmouth faculty members sent a letter to Hanlon asking him to remove his statement from the school's website and apologize to Bray for exposing him to death threats.
"There is nothing that Professor Bray has said that is in violation of Dartmouth's stated free speech and academic freedom policies," they wrote. "We urge you to consider the lasting damage to Dartmouth's reputation that follows from such actions.”
Hanlon’s statement unfairly admonishing Bray for offering his perspective in his area of expertise should be deeply troubling for the Dartmouth community.