Monthly Archives: April 2020

Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of the evangelical Liberty University, has long positioned himself as a torch-bearer of free expression. "Free speech and intellectual diversity are two of the most important pillars of a college education," he wrote last June. "That's why I urge every college and university in the country to encourage open political discourse on their own campusesjust as we do at Liberty University."

Falwell is now demanding the arrest of two reporters he accuses of painting his school in a negative light.

In an interview with radio host Todd Starnes, Falwell derided reporters at The New York Times andProPublicafor how they covered his decision to partially reopen Liberty amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Both pieces, he claimed, unfairly portrayed Liberty's attitude toward the coronavirus as flippant and careless. He singled out, for example, Times journalist Elizabeth Williamson's characterization of a conversation she had with local physician Thomas W. Eppes, Jr.: Williamson wrote that Eppes told her "nearly a dozen Liberty students were sick with symptoms that suggested Covid-19." Although one eventually tested positive, Falwell said the presumptive cases never numbered as high as 12a depiction he cast as "sensational click-bait."

And so the university president secured arrest warrants for Times photographer Julia Rendlemanand ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis for trespassing, a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. He told Starnes that an additional warrant is coming against someone affiliated with another "big time liberal news organization." (There is no warrant against Williamson because she did not take any photographs, so there's no physical proof that she was on campus.) Falwell also maintained that "lawsuits will be filed" against The New York Times if a retraction or Liberty-friendly correction isn't issued regarding the contagion numbers.

It's possible that Falwell is just trying to engage in some crisis PR. It's also possible that Williamson misunderstood or mischaracterized Eppes' comments. The veracity of the story isn't the point here. The point is Falwell's attempt to arrest people associated with reports he feels are biased against himnot the recourse you'd expect from someone who seriously sees his university as a bulwark of free expression.

"It is clear that Falwell is engaged in a campaign of petty retribution against journalists who write articles critical of the university," says Ari Cohn, a free speech lawyer and former director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). "But that's actually completely in line with Liberty University's faux concern for freedom of expression. Falwell's idea of freedom of expression on campus includes only expression that he approves of."

The trespassing charges aren't likely to hold up in court: The reporters involved were photographing a student who invited them to campus for an interview. But who really believes that the alleged trespassing is Falwell's concern here? He wants to intimidate people who criticize his school.

That same browbeating culture is alive and well within the institution's walls. Calum Best, the student interviewed by both The New York Times andProPublica, described an angry phone call he received from Scott Lamb, the college's senior vice president for university communications, after he wrote a Facebook post arguing for tuition refunds amid COVID-19. Lamb included Best's work-study boss on the call.

"I thought I was in deep trouble for some professional failure," Best wrote on Medium. "But, as the call went on, I realized my boss had no need to be there, and had no connection to the matter at hand."

That heavy-handedness tracks with how Falwell and his associates oversee Champion, Liberty University's student paper. Will E. Young, the former editor-in-chief, wrote last year that Falwell actively got in the way of Trump-critical coverage, at one point removing a student op-ed lamenting Trump's Access Hollywood tape. The author of that erstwhile column, Joel Schmieg, took to Facebook to air the grievance and was promptly contacted by a faculty adviser, who reprimanded him for doing so. Schmieg then resigned.

As a private institution, Liberty University can set its own rules of conduct. But it's the height of hypocrisy to muzzle student speech while making a show of opposing censorship. And the university president isn't just dealing with a newspaper on its own turf: With these warrants, Falwell is leveraging state power to try to stop speech by private actors whose only connection to his school is to write about it. It's a bad approach for anyone to take, but especially someone who claims to support free expression and intellectual diversity.

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Jerry Falwell Jr. Has a Free Speech Problem - Reason

An online forum hosted by PEN Americas Campus Free Speech Program

NEW YORKThis week, PEN Americas Campus Free Speech Program launched a webinar series, Free Speech and the Virtual Campus, with an inaugural session devoted to What Professors Need to Know about Online Hate and Harassment. Hundreds of participants viewed the session from seven countries, as panelists discussed online attacks and abuse that faculty can prepare for, defend against, and combat.

Viktorya Vilk, program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, discussed how online abuse can be defined and outlined the chilling, censoring effects it can have on writers and journalists. She summarized recent trends and offered advice, drawn from PEN Americas Online Harassment Field Manual, on how to protect ones identity, how to document online abuse, and how to be a supportive ally to those targeted. She explained that women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community are disproportionately targeted by abuse and hate, which risks silencing the voices of those who have historically been marginalized in higher education and society writ large. She emphasized that offering institutional support and allyship to students, faculty, and staff targeted by online abuse is critical to ensuring that higher education is more equitable and diverse.

Oren Segal, vice president at the Center on Extremism at the Anti-Defamation League, discussed the rise in white supremacists and extremists using online spaces to spread hate, and their efforts to use the pandemic to reach new audiences. Segal noted that just like everyone else, extremists are also home now, engaging in online aggression, like Zoombombing. Despite some extremists affiliating themselves to hate groups, Segal emphasized that the majority of offenders are lone actors, making some of their actions hard to predict. Segal shared ADLs tips on preventing Zoombombing as well as their hate symbols database, as a reference for faculty to familiarize themselves with.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Professor of Education and Sociology at American University, spoke about the current threat of youth radicalization, with K-12 and college students now spending greater amounts of time online. She detailed how faculty members could prepare for such threats proactively, by updating their awareness of hate symbols and familiarizing themselves with digital platforms, as well as getting to know their security settings and available restrictions. She also offered advice for faculty and administrators in the aftermath of an incident of hate or harassment, elaborating on how faculty might deal with the after-effects of a Zoombombing incident in an online class.

Various questions and concerns were also taken up by panelists, as posed from the audience, including:

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[RECAP] What Professors Need to Know about Online Hate and Harassment - PEN America

Mi-Ai Parrish (top left), Kyle Pope (top right), and Suzanne Nossel (bottom middle)

Screenshot from Zoom

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the local news industry was a patient who already had all the underlying health conditions, said Mi-Ai Parrish, the former publisher of the Arizona Republic.

Now, local news is a patient in critical condition. Each day brings a new round of layoffs and pay cuts for journalists, a new slowing down of a printing press, and a new silence in communities that need accurate, updated, and tailored information. This is the tragic irony of our current moment: The COVID-19 pandemic is underscoring the critical importance of local news while also decimating it.

Considering this contradiction and examining paths forward were at the heart of Future Tenses most recent web event in our yearlong Free Speech Project series, which is examining the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech.

In communities across the U.S., local journalists have kept their communities informed throughout the pandemic about things like how many tests are available, where to go to get the resources they need, whats happening with their schools, what shortages their hospitals facethe sort of crucial, community-level coverage that large national publications like the New York Times cant.

Local news coverage during the pandemic hasnt just been about tallying cases. Kyle Pope, the editor and publisher of Columbia Journalism Review, noted that outlets have also shone a spotlight on social problemsthings like existing issues in county jails, the lack of capacity for digital learning in schools, and resource gaps at hospitals.

We think of local journalists as first responders, said Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America, a membership organization of writers dedicated to protecting free expression. Indeed, news organizations have been widely designated as essential businesses during the pandemic.

Recognizing the importance of their work to their communities, many news organizations have taken down paywalls for their COVID-19 coverage, an honorable decision which highlights an interesting conundrum, said Parrish, currently the Sue Clark-Johnson Professor in Media Innovation and Leadership at Arizona State University. (Disclosure: ASU is a partner with Slate and New America in Future Tense.) Outside of emergency situations, people often argue against paywalls by claiming that journalism is so vital that it should be freebut whats lost in that argument is that precisely because journalism is so vital, it needs the financial backing of its audience.

Unfortunately, convincing people to pay for journalism, particularly online journalism, is difficult.

Theres still sort of a hangover from the days where everything on the internet was free and people expected it to be free, Nossel said.

In a November report, PEN America found that over the past 15 years, newspapers have lost over $35 billion in ad revenue and 47 percent of newsroom staff. In many cases, the report notes, the digital shift has collapsed local newsrooms business models.

Without even taking into consideration the impact of our current pandemic, $35 billion represents a massive funding gap, one not easily bridged. Doing so requires recognition among the public that journalism is a necessary public serviceand perhaps government funding.

The most recent stimulus bill, as Nossel and Viktorya Vilk recently highlighted in Future Tense, includes almost no support for the journalism industry. But several organizations, including PEN America, are calling for future stimulus funding to include a special focus on local news organizations.

Government funding for journalism is controversial in the U.S., with critics citing concerns over editorial independence. But there are successful models for maintaining independence despite government funding in areas such as scientific research and the arts, Nossel said.

Perhaps this stimulus phase can kind of destigmatize the idea of expanding public funding and catalyze a robust, in-depth debate, she said.

One thing thats clear is that solutions are urgent. More than 2,100 newspapers have disappeared since 2004, according to University of North Carolina professor Penny Muse Abernathy. And that was before the pandemic. Once they disappear, they do not come back, said Nossel. So theres a finality at stake here.

Ultimately, said Pope, the problem local news faces is so daunting that theres no rescue big enough thats going to come from the outside. Rescuing local news requires community buy-in and community boots on the ground.

To get their communities to rally around them, said Pope, its incumbent on these news organizations to humanize themselves.

There are lots of ways to do this. It may involve sitting with your critical readers to discuss concerns over barbecue. It may involve, as Pope once did, parking an RV on the streets of Manhattan and opening the doors to community members with concerns, comments, questions, and tips. It wont always be easy.

But luckily, local news organizations have two big things going for them on this front. First, the majority of Americans trust local television, newspapers, and radio (more so than national news sources), and this trust increases with increased contact with local reporters.

The second, Parrish highlighted, is that among local journalists there is still so much heart for the work, despite constant challenges. After the 2016 election of Donald Trump, journalism schools across the country saw a surge in class sizes, and the panelists said it was reasonable to expect a similar reaction in the months following the pandemic.

Pope said his largest source of hope is local journalists commitment to telling stories that matterthe type of commitment that has them emailing CJR the day after theyve been laid off with an idea for a new, important story that theyre ready to report.

This hope is especially important in the face of the industrys uncertain future.

Its like everything that were living through right now. None of us know where the other side is, Pope said. I live in New York City and every day I look for glimmers of hope in the data, and some days I see it and some days I dont [W]e have to get through that phase first, and then we can start looking at the battlefield and sort of say, Where do we go now?

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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The New York Times Is Great, but Wholl Cover Your Community? - Slate

Senator Bernie Sanders has suspended his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, making former Vice President Joe Biden the presumptive nominee to face Donald Trump in November. Sanders says he will stay on the ballot in remaining primary races and continue to assemble delegates.

DN plays highlights from Sanderss speech to supporters in a live stream on Wednesday. Together, we have transformed American consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become, and have taken this country a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice, he said.

Democracy Now! produces a daily, global, independent news hour hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzlez.

Our reporting includes breaking daily news headlines and in-depth interviews with people on the front lines of the worlds most pressing issues.

On DN!, youll hear a diversity of voices speaking for themselves, providing a unique and sometimes provocative perspective on global events.

Missed an episode? Check out DN on FSTV VOD anytime or visit the show page for the latest clips.

#FreeSpeechTV is one of the last standing national, independent news networks committed to advancing progressive social change.

#FSTV is available on Dish, DirectTV, AppleTV, Roku, Sling and online at freespeech.org.

2020 Democratic Presidential nomination Amy Goodman Bernie Sanders Democracy Now! Donald Trump Free Speech TV Joe Biden

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Suspending the Campaign, Not the Movement: Bernie Sanders Pulls Out of 2020 Race But Will Stay on Ballot - Free Speech TV

The Foundation for Individual Right in Education (FIRE) says that it will defend the rights of college students in online college classes to ensure thatacademic freedom and freedom of expression are protected during the Chinese virus pandemic.

The free speech organization vows to continue to defend the rights of students as universities transition toward greater use of technology to ensure that basic civil liberties are not compromised.

FIREs statement arrives on the heels ofrecent Zoom bombings a type of cyber attack in which Zoom video conferencing meetings are hacked by unwelcome visitors.

The video conference app which has surged in popularity due to an increase of virtual meetings across the country in response to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has garnered an influx of complaints from users who have had their virtual meetings hijacked.

The incidents have even elicited a response from New YorkAttorney General Letitia James, who sent a letterto Zoom with a number of questions to ensure the company is taking appropriate steps to ensure users privacy and security, according to a spokesperson.

Now, FIRE has issued reasonable steps for students, faculty, and administrators to take in order to protect their virtual classrooms while ensuring that the First Amendment rights of students are upheld.

Reasonable steps may include controlling students microphone access; imposing reasonable, viewpoint-neutral requirements on student use of virtual backgrounds; and asking students to disable their camera, said the organization in a recentstatement.

Faculty, or the administrator of the virtual classroom if not the professor, may restrict the ability of unauthorized individuals to access and disrupt class sessions using the platforms security settings, protecting their and their students right to a disruption-free environment, FIRE added.

The organization went on to state that faculty should recognize that students attending classes from their residences or remote locations may have limited control over their immediate physical surroundings, and should take reasonable steps to accommodate students in the manner that best approximates an in-person classroom experience.

Like faculty, studentsexpressive rights in the virtual classroom should mirror those afforded to them when attending class on campus, added FIRE. Students must be given the opportunity to participate in online learning free from discrimination, harassment, and other undue interference with their educational pursuits.

As is always the case, students must not be subjected to discrimination by their professors based on their viewpoint or opinion, which strikes at the core of both the First Amendment and liberal education, the organization affirmed.

You can follow AlanaMastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.

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Campus Free Speech Organization FIRE Is Protecting the Rights of Students Online - Breitbart

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Both Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer have recommended faith leaders not to host in-person services as the coronavirus outbreak continues.

During his Thursday press briefing, Beshear said 54 positive cases and six deaths were linked to a church revival in Hopkins County. He encouraged leaders to host services or studies online instead.

Still, one Bullitt County pastor said he refuses to comply as his First Amendment rights are at stake. Pastor Jack Roberts at Maryville Baptist Church said he's offering an online option but continues to hold services in-person, including a Wednesday night bible study.

Attorney Mat Staver, who represents Roberts, called the orders unconstitutional.

"Home Depot has no right to exist under the Constitution, churches do," Staver said. "You don't throw that out simply in times of crisis, you have to balance that right with the safety of the people."

While the First Amendment does protect freedom of religion, the University of Louisville law professor Sam Marcosson said the governor is in the right.

"The only First Amendment right that the church has is not to be singled out for differential treatment," Marcosson said. "So, if the governor was allowing sporting events but not churches, then they had a claim."

Marcosson compared churches remaining open during the pandemic to a person yelling fire in a theater.

"You're not allowed to falsely yell fire in a crowded theater," Marcosson said. "Yes, you have a right to free speech, but you can't exercise that right in a way that puts other people in danger."

Dr. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the governor is within his rights.

"There's not a First Amendment violation here," Mohler said.

He did, though, have a problem with Fischer saying no to drive-thru services. While Beshear supported Fischer's decision, he did not say he would make that recommendation for the state. Mohler said not allowing drive-thru services would single out churches.

"Religious liberty at the very least means that religious institutions cannot be singled out, if you can [have a] drive-thru a liquor store, you should be allowed to do a drive-thru service," Mohler said.

RELATED: Maryville Baptist Church holds Bible study against Gov. Beshear's recommendation

RELATED: Some churches to hold Easter services despite Beshear, Fischer's recommendations

RELATED: Passover, Good Friday and Easter: How to celebrate virtually during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

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Telling churches to cancel in-person services is not a violation of the First Amendment, expert says - WHAS11.com

Elections commissioner says social media posts were a threat to ASU and President Michael Crow

Illustration published on Monday,March 20, 2017.

All seven Undergraduate Student Government Senate candidates in the United Voices for ASU coalition received three infraction points on their campaigns after a complaint was filed against their members' social media activity.

Judah Waxelbaum, chairman of the Arizona Federation of College Republicans and a junior studying political science, filed the complaint on April 5 citing the Arizona Board of Regents code of conduct that says behavior that could "present a risk or danger to the health, safety or security" of ABOR, the University, students or University property is prohibited.

"The Elections Department has reasonable evidence to believe that the United Voices for ASU Senatorial Ticket has raised reasonable concern for the risk or danger of the University community due to their tweets related to ASU President Micheal Crow," the decision says.

The decision, made by Elections Commissioner Carla Naranjo, recognizes that students have a right to free speech and political expression but says the social media posts contained in the complaint are threatening toward Crow.

The decision points out that USG is a nonpartisan governing body for all undergraduate students, something that the coalition's interactions on social media make hard to believe they would carry out, said Waxelbaum.

Waxelbaum said he was "disturbed" by the content in social media posts by members of the coalition which include profane language toward Crow, the University and suggest yelling to uphold their platform. The complaint also highlights tweets that depict violent actions toward federal presidential candidates.

"They don't seem interested in listening to those who they disagree with," Waxelbaum said. "And they're endorsed by community members and organizations that have no interest in civil dialogue."

United Voices for ASU's four-point platform demands refunds from the University for in-person tuition and housing, curved grading, free internet and transparency surrounding their response to COVID-19.

A week into campaigning, endorsements and coalitions are forming around candidates. The United Voices for ASU coalition and all of the candidates running have been endorsed by political student clubs like ASU Young Democratic Socialists of America, Students for Socialism and MECHA de ASU.

Other groups rallying around an issue like Students for Justice in Palestine and ASU No Mas Muertes have also endorsed the coalition. Clubs representing cultural groups like the African Students' Association, the Association of Latino Professionals for America and El Concilio have all voiced their support.

The coalition wants to represent what they call a minority at the University by building grassroots relationships and "representing the interests of all."

"When all of us stand together with unity, we have more chances of seeing a drastic change," said Alexia Isais, senatorial candidate for The College, member of United Voices and a sophomore studying political science.

While the coalition admits that they're proud of their resilience, other political clubs on campus haven't been too sure of their motives.

"I'm concerned that students might vote on the platform of reform due to COVID-19," said President of ASU College Libertarians, David Howman, a graduate student studying justice studies. "It's a talking point, not a real plan for unity."

Howman voiced that he was worried that those running with the coalition were in "pursuit of their own ideologies" and would set a "double-edged precedent" if people with partisan ideas joined a nonpartisan organization.

But United Voices members believe that other senatorial candidates had been more political than them. Members of the coalition said that their endorsements only represent niche groups of people who say they have never been heard before by USG or the University administration and might have a chance now.

"We're the underdogs in this election," said Bridget Saidu, senatorial candidate for The College, member of United Voices and sophomore studying philosophy and justice studies.

Another member added that the argument that the group was too political had no real grounds.

"USG is not apolitical, it's nonpartisan," said Daniel Lopez, senatorial candidate for The College, member of United Voices and junior studying philosophy and political science. "It's for helping students," he said, with everything from housing, food insecurity to discrimination, all things that he said are inherently political.

A campaign for USG is effectively suspended when the candidate receives nine infraction points.

"The level of punishment is unfortunate," Waxelbaum said. "The commissioner needs to take a serious closer look."

Campaigning began on March 30 and will end on April 14 when voting begins. Students will vote digitally on April 14 and 15 and results will be announced on April 16.

Editor's Note: Alexia Isais worked as an opinion columnist for The State Press in 2019. She was not involved in the reporting or editing of this story.

Reach the reporter at pjhanse1@asu.edu and follow @piperjhansen on Twitter.

Like The State Press on Facebook and follow @statepress on Twitter.

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United Voices for ASU candidates receive three infraction points - The State Press

The US Merit Systems Protection Boardthe judicial dustbin where the United States does battle with employees it wants to fireis one building no bureaucrat ever wants to see. The jig may well be up by the time you arrive: Terminating a civil servant is so comically burdensome that the very fact of anyone assembling here means Uncle Sam has judged him worthy of the exertion. Certainly that was true last year when the court heard the case of US Naval Academy professor Bruce Fleming.

The Academys commandant had arrived that day in his Service Khakisgold clipped belt, shined black shoes, collar insignia denoting rank. Across the aisle, in a Corneliani jacket and yellow bow tie, was the flopping marlin the school had spent years trying to spear: Fleming, a longtime English teacher. Or, as the Navy would argue, a threat to order and discipline, a corrupting influence, and, reading between the lines, a profound pain in the ass.

A grudging civility hung in the air. After three military investigations, one department inquiry, a three-year-long federal lawsuit, and one whistleblower complaint, most everybody knew everybody by now. This time, the Navy had brought allegations on behalf of five students: that Fleming had discussed oral sex and transgender surgery in class, lobbed a political epithet at two midshipmen, touched one inappropriately, and, among other things, deliberately mispronounced an Asian students name and told the student to f off (Fleming denied the last accusation). The charge that had garnered the most attention was a photo: a shirtless selfie Fleming had sent to students.

Some of the allegations would set off alarms anywhere, not least at the storied service academy, where future officers are shaped by the Honor Concept and Uniform Code of Military Justice. Fleming, though, barely raised a brow behind his tortoiseshell glasses. Over years of fighting the Navy, hed proven impossible to fire, even as hed acknowledgedproudly, in factmany incidents the brass described.

It was true, for instance, that hed told a student to fix his lisphe said he had been doing the Navy a favor by pointing it out, according to the findings of one Academy investigation. And hed happily admitted discussing anal sex in class. He was fond, too, of lampooning Academy traditions, such as the famous Herndon ritual, in which shirtless plebes climb a greased obelisk. Talk about homoerotic! This is, like, jacked-boy mud wrestling! he exclaimed before outlining to me his theory of Annapoliss culture of sexual repression.

Fleming called this most recent attempt to fire him the most skewed, the most horrible, the most demeaning ordeal of his career. He described Academy officials to me as assholes and shits.

This year, the Naval Academy was ranked highest among public liberal-arts college in Americaan honor owing to its unique arrangement in which military and civilian instructors teach side by side. Fleming, beloved by his defenders as a refreshingly contrarian voice in a chauvinistic military culture, is exhibit A for anyone who sees preserving that arrangement as important. Yet hes also the worst spokesman imaginable for just about any cause.

Which is strange because, after all these years of sparring with the higher-ups, a larger cause is precisely what he has inspired.

Fleming is 65 but looks closer to 45, a feat he owes to a lifetime of physical fitness. Mornings often consist of an hour of jogging in place while classical music pipes from his record player. His pedigree is impressiveHaverford degree at 19, dozens of books on an array of topics. A notoriously harsh grader, he simultaneously inspired a measure of devotion: Students who took to him were sometimes called the Fleming Faithful.

Not even the most faithful, though, would ever confuse him with a naval officer. Fleming spoke frankly and cursed frequently, interspersing his lectures on Tennyson and Shelley with what he called life lessons about things like condom use and gay relationships. He discouraged students from standing for attention on deck when he entered. He dressed in a different Italian suit every day, letting students try on the jackets. A male model well into his thirties, he began his courses with one-armed pushups and called students studs and studettes. In his lingo, the thesis of a paper became the Flex.

His formidable talent, though, was the ability to find arguments that could offend almost anybody. Today, the tally of charges against him is pretty much a never-ending torrent of shock-jock commentary on just about every hot-button social topic. Spend some time with him and hes likely to insult you personally.

The investigations began in 2013, a phenomenally bad time for the Academy. That year, three football players had been accused of sexually assaulting a female midshipman. As the scandal took over national headlines, the Yard felt to many like an emotional tinderbox. This was the ideal moment, Fleming judged, to criticize the schools new sexual-assault training program. During class one day, he says, he called the training strongly anti-male, parodying the dogma: If she says you harassed her, you harassed her. He took particular affront at the new regimes vernacularaccusers should be called alleged victims until the accusations are proven, he said.

Two female midshipmen shared concerns with the school, which pressed the English Department to investigate. Fleming was removed from class. But the other students in the course gave their teacher high marks overall, and he was quickly reinstated. How does Fleming remember the whole episode today? He says the two women, who dropped the course, were simply smug and self-righteous.

In early 2016, Fleming was back in trouble. A freshman plebe had come to office hours. He was Asian, a varsity soccer player. His writing was abysmal, Fleming says. He had SAT scores of high 400s, 500s, which is below even our averagewhich in turn is 100 points below more respectable schools. Anyway, according to Fleming and an Academy report, he pulled up the plebes SAT scores and tried to diagnose him. How did he get into the Naval Academy with scores this low? he asks. The answer is he was an Asian and he was a recruited athletea fact that Fleming says he patiently, but unwisely as it turns out, explained to the plebe.

The student filed a complaint, prompting the school to open a new investigation. Out tumbled a litany of accusations from others. According to an investigative report, students alleged that Professor Fleming discussed the craziest place he had ever had sex with a girl, told a midshipman his English paper sucked big donkey dicks, and explained that sometimes no means yes. (Aside from sexual discussions in class, the Academy substantiated few of the exact claims.)

It also emerged that Fleming sent the class bare-chested photos. He had e-mailed a triptych of male underwear models: actor Mark Wahlberg, tennis champion Rafael Nadal, and, lo and behold, the professor himself. The picture had been snapped during his modeling days, his pecs bejeweled with water, a dramatic gaze on his face.

Talk about homoerotic! This is, like, jacked-boy mud wrestling!

Fleming had a perfectly innocent explanation. The photos complemented a discussion of Keatss Ode on a Grecian Urn. Its about how fake perfect beauty is, because its doomed to rot, he says. His modeling days had come up. I didnt see any harm in it. Plus, it was valuable for the class to understand essential details about modelingI had to be greased up, they sprayed me with cooking oil, the light had to be perfect, blah blah blah, Fleming went on. Is it reality? This is Keatss question. Is this perfection reality?(His e-mails also compared his physique to Nadals: He has sharper abs but Im taller with a way better V and lats. Take that rafi!!)

The Academy wasnt buying it. And after months of looking into the matter, the investigative committee concluded in their report that Fleming had likely violated sexual-harassment policies.

Fleming, for his part, maintained that his style made the classroom engaging and exciting. He also had an intriguing counterargument: The Academy was bringing the code of military justice down on the heads of civilian professors, to whom it didnt apply. His lawyer, meanwhile, discovered a trap door. The school had ostensibly based its investigation on a recently instituted disciplinary rule that formally permitted students to bring complaints directly to the military, rather than appeal first to an academic department. The effective date on the published rule, though, had been alteredan act of gamesmanship, in the lawyers view, to grandfather in Flemings case. The Academy denies this, saying the date discrepancies were merely a mistake.

At any rate, Fleming was never recommended for dismissal, the professor of English apparently saved by a typo.

Fleming made no special effort to hide his disgust. According to the schools report, the only regret he voiced was that hed spent way too much time trying to make [the plebe] a better student. Nor had the student thanked him, he pointed out to me, for his efforts to tutor him. No good deed goes unpunished, he sighs.

According to the Navy, the classroom antics had a darker side. When crossed, Fleming harbored grudges and wasnt afraid to act on them. He had, for instance, sent a 5,767-word e-mail to the entire facultyWelcome to Orwells1984, he warnedin which he revealed the name of his Asian soccer-player plebe and his SAT scores, drawing attention to the students identity. Then there was the incident with the two smug and self-righteous women. Though already exonerated, Fleming hadnt let the matter go. He relitigated his case in the press and discussed with students whether he should take action against their female classmates. Then he filed conduct violations against the womenfor disrespect or insubordination and failure to use good judgment. The school ultimately put the matter to rest by issuing him a letter of reprimand.

After both cases, Fleming was convinced his actions were heroic, his persecution total. Its Kafka meets the Keystone Cops, he says.

Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean theyre not out to get me, Fleming went on. And they really are out to get me.

There were, in fact, other reasons the Navy might have wanted Fleming gone. In its first century, Annapolis taught its officers-in-training how to win wars. In its second century, it began a slow metamorphosis into a modern college. Today, the Yard has a foot in two cultures: The same campus that vows to cultivate free thinkers is also one where professors are addressed as superior officers and midshipmen arent permitted to walk on the grass.

Every once in a while, these worlds collide. In 1996, a civilian professor named James Barry wrote a critical op-ed in theWashington Postthat excoriated the Academy for a series of cheating, drug, and sexual-assault problems. Barry was immediately removed from teaching. At a campus-wide meeting, the superintendent reportedly told him to stand and announced, That man there is a liar and a traitor. Eventually, Barry was allowed back. He left instead.

Fleming was appalled but, like most colleagues, kept his opinions to himself. In 2005, he turned. He wrote his own op-ed, which spilled secrets from his short tenure on the admissions board. Only half of Academy admits were competitive, he asserted; the rest were racial minorities, athletes, or other special cases. The superintendent wrote a furious rebuke, and the whole thing ended up on CNNwhose reporter noted that the Navy cant fire a tenured professor just for speaking out.

Fleming kept speaking out: in op-eds, interviews, and TV appearances that didnt let up for 15 years. Annapolis was not what it advertised. The academic standards were bad and getting worse. Students became mindless yes-men. The Yard was a military Disneyland for tourists and a boondoggle for taxpayers that should be radically reformed or abolished.

So what did that make him, a professor at Disneyland? Some saw a foul-mouthed facsimile of Robin Williams inDead Poets Society,an apostle of good cheer set on rescuing students from hidebound adults. Im there to make sure that they dont drink the Kool-Aid, says Fleming. I can certainly see why that annoys the military.

Amid the onslaught, an academic dean named Andrew Phillips fired back. When Fleming was approved for a raise, Phillips overruled it. He later sent Fleming a letter warning him that any more inappropriate public remarks could lead to disciplinary action.

But as the CNN imbroglio should have made clear, Fleming had a flair for brinksmanship. He reported Phillips to the Office of Special Counsel, the federal agency that investigates ethics violations. The paycheck retaliation violated his free speech, he claimed, and Phillipss letter was the smoking gun. The special counsel found that the Academy had acted illegally, and the school chose to settle.

Once again, headlines trumpeted the free-speech professor who had outsmarted the Navy. (Through the Academy, Phillips declined to comment for this story.) Fleming, for his part, had found the ideal nemesis: a power-hungry little shit, he says.

This guy is short, ugly, and hes got a squeaky voice!

For the next six years, the irreverent dandy and the buttoned-up officer traded blows, a spat that attracted the attention of many on the Yard. There were letters of reprimand, there was the typo that saved Fleming from the firing squad. Presiding over every investigation that dogged Fleming was Phillips. Soon enough, the dean would officiate their final showdown.

Just after New Years in 2018, the command received a 14-page complaint from a plebe named Matthew DeSantis. This time, the Academy sprang into routine like an all-hands drill. Fleming was yanked from the classroom. An investigation commenced. Justice was swift: Fleming became only the second teacher fired from the school in recent memory. In his final decision, Phillips cited conduct unbecoming a federal employee. Naturally, Fleming appealed.

It was nine months later that the two found themselves face to face in the fluorescent quarters of the Merit Systems Protection Board. Phillips would have to justify his actions under civilian standards. They were on Flemings turf now.

Midshipman DeSantis, like many peers, hailed from a conservative family, and he had graduated from a Christian school. Hed had second thoughts about coming forwardI didnt really want to be the person on the horse fighting, he testified. But to sit in a classroom where, as he wrote in his complaint, there was not a single class period when Professor Fleming did not bring up a sexual topic, especially anal sex, was, to put it gently, a shock.

The plebe was offended that Fleming called him a right-wing extremist, described the Yard as a waste of space, and compared the Herndon obelisk to a fully erect penis. He was also disturbed by Flemings descriptions of transgender surgery, which he thought seemed designed to mock midshipmen who had transitioned. It was bad for morale, DeSantis said: After Flemings class, you feel worthless and that you are not here to serve our nation.

The Navy took the complaint and bundled it with other student statementsthe profanities, the unwanted touching. But during the hearing, it didnt take long for the skeptical civilian judge to extract a pattern: The Academy appeared to have spun much of the evidence against Fleming.

The school, for instance, said the professor acted inappropriately in calling DeSantis and another plebe right-wing extremists over e-mail, suggesting he discriminated against conservatives. But the text of the message read like a playful admonishment, and besides, Fleming had as many conservative defenders as liberal ones. The school alleged that Flemings sex talk was inappropriate for the classroom. But sexual topics came up often in English texts. Under questioning, it became clear that the young plebes offense stemmed mainly from the fact that the topics were mentioned at alljust how sex should be this open thing.

Then there was the shirtless picture, the capstone of DeSantiss complaint. In the grainy selfie, the professor is nearly fully cropped from the frame. The real star of the shot is his left bicep. Fleming argued that it was a reference to the Flex, his moniker for a thesis statement. Plebes in the class regularly took photos flexing their biceps and often sent e-mails signed with a row of bicep emoji. It was in reply to one such thread that Fleming sent the selfie, to DeSantis and one other student.

My mom was in tears. . . . My dad, whos a lawyer, was very confused and was like, This is not right, DeSantis testified. It didnt feel right the professor was sending me that type of picture.

What circumstances could possibly mitigate such a screaming indecency? For one, the judge observed, DeSantis, too, had sent Fleming a shirtless photonot of himself but of four half-naked men running through town in Santa caps and underwear. In the Navys own campus culture, a jaunty physicality presided as the secular religionworshiped at events like bodybuilding strip-show nights. At the hearing, all Flemings lawyer had to do was produce a photo of the Herndon ritual, the plebes half-naked bodies glistening with pig lard.

Perhaps for this reason, most of the students who testified werent offended by Fleming. Even the one who experienced what the Navy alleged was unwanted touching recounted that he didnt have a problem with him. Fleming had twice moved a hand across the midshipmans back for about 15 secondslong enough to provoke a little bit of discomfort, the student testified, but not enough to sully a fun course. As he put it, I enjoyed his class.

In fact, Fleming was popularso much so that even the Navys lawyer conceded he was an excellent teacher. A thousand student evaluations over 30 years were 90-percent positive. He genuinely cares about his students in a way no other teacher does, reads one. By far the best instructor I have ever had, said many. A student who chastised FlemingToo much gender f*** nonsenserated him Excellent anyway: He loves us; we love him.

One witness who testified was Anne-Marie Drew, a former chair of the English Department. Hes had some lapses in judgment, she told me. He talks about things that he should leave alone. Her greater concern was the Navys overkill treatment of her colleague, which could have other consequences for the Academy. You dont pull somebody out of the classroom andthendo the investigation, Drew said.

Serious people had taken notice. The American Association of University Professors took the significant step of is-suing a rebuke against Annapolisthe kind of censure, perhaps, more familiar to controversies of progressive excess on liberal campuses.

Drew, who taught for 30 years before retiring last semester, observed that midshipmen on the whole had become increasingly sensitivemore willing, she told me, to say, Well, maam, Im offended by this.

But triggering speech wasnt cause to cut loose a teacher with tenure. He was offended by Brucetheres no doubt he was offended by Bruce, she said. But that doesnt mean that what Bruce did was wrong.

Why would the Academy stake so much on a case that leaked like a Soviet dinghy? In one sense, Fleming had become a symbol of insubordination. To reinstate an employee who failed to demonstrate support for the mission, as the schools lawyer put it, was a concession the Navy couldnt abide.

Most saw the conflict for the complex situation it was. I think its too easy to say Bruce is the villain, John Schofield, a retired naval commander who led the schools public-affairs office until 2016, told me. Bruce, I believe, represents everything thats good about injecting civilians into military education. Nevertheless, Annapolis had to investigatethats what you do when students come forward with serious complaints. I never saw them target Bruce unfairly.

He genuinely cares about his students in a way no other teacher does.

A different picture emerges from the internal Navy documents obtained byWashingtonian,detailing the origins of the Asian soccer-player case. The investigative report reveals that the midshipman didnt initiate the case at all. According to the report, a lieutenant heard a student mention inappropriate conduct involving Fleming and a plebe on the soccer team. The lieutenant pressed for the plebes name, called him in, and typed up the meeting. The readout made its way to Dean Phillips. Five days after that, the plebe sent in his typed complaint. I just kind of let it go, the student later told investigators, citing Flemings tenure and other factors, until [the lieutenant] e-mailed me.

There was something else compelling the Navy to act. While the lieutenant was pressing for the plebes identity, a colleague of Flemings filed a distraught memo. If the allegations (below) against Professor Fleming are true, then it is probable that the English Department is harboring a predator who grooms young male midshipmen for future inappropriate relationships, the memo began. It described an anonymous midshipman, who said that Fleming frequently touched the students while showing them how to wear clothes and a tie. A different instructor said hed witnessed the same thing: Fleming led a student into the bathroom, and when the instructor followed them in, he saw Fleming adjusting clothes on the student, who appeared submissive. The instructor said the student came by Flemings office three days a week and spent 40 minutes there behind closed doors. The report shows the encounter had disturbed the instructor.

To Fleming, the predator insinuation smacked of desperation. Am I coming on to the students? No. Am I screwing the students? No. And the amazing thing is that they seem to be going in the direction of saying I was making gayI was coming on to the students in a gay way. That just blows my mind, he says. I mean, theyve got to make up their minds. Im talking about straight sex. Is it that Im a straight pervert, or a gay pervert?

Perhaps its simpler: In the 21st century, any schoolpublic, private, military, civilianis going to see a case like DeSantiss as part of its duty to protect students.

Whats the conceivable counter-action? Schofield asks. If I got a Speedo photo from any of my professors at Villanovait doesnt matter where youre going to school right now, thats fing wrong. So the Naval Academy sits back and just does nothing?Hes a tenured professor! Hes eccentric! He wears a bow tie! Hes that old, quirky, crazy Bruce!Schofield went on. Then what does the Navy look like in the eyes of the public?

In the eyes of the court, though, the Navy was in the wrong. Administrative judge Mark Syska wrote that DeSantis had severe credibility issues. The aggrieved plebe seemed motivated by his gradethe first C of his academic lifeand appeared to have asked/cajoled/encouraged the other complaining midshipmen to file complaints. Syska suggested that Flemings shirtless photo was a dumb decision. But the Academy couldnt point to any rule that specifically prohibited his actions.

Stepping back, Syska described the events as the perfect storm. An eighteen-year-old from a conservative, religious family who had only attended religious schools and only experienced academic success, versus the profane, irreverent, brutally critical (read admitted very tough grader) and highly theatrical [Fleming] had conflict written all over it. (Through the Academy, DeSantis declined to comment.) The judge ordered Annapolis to reinstate its professor.

Flemings coup has made him a military celebrity. Officers inside the Pentagon know his name, Drew says. Once, on a visit to Guantnamo, a Navy captain approached her. You go back and tell your professors, especially that Bruce Fleming, in your pretty little classrooms at the Academy what its really like out here in the Navy, she recalls him saying.

The Academy hasnt backed down. It appealed the decision. And though it returned Fleming to his title and his office, it has refused to let him teach. Fleming described it as a glass box, collecting a paycheck in an academic purgatory.

Late last year, I arranged to meet him there. By then, hed been sending me dozens of e-mails and texts a day. Many were photos of himself with smiling students. Others were more in character. When I asked for the offending shots, a sequence of shirtless Flemings sprang into view on my phone within the span of a minute. He was undeniably fit. Fk yeah !!! he had appended. Mentally morally and physically baby!

At Annapolis, I found Fleming at his computer, the office mostly empty save for a framed cover of theCapital Gazette:naval academy teacher to be reinstated, including a photo of Fleming mugging in a Superman T-shirt.

Plopped in an armchair, the one reserved for one-on-one life lessons, I was unprepared for the volume and intensity of what unspooled. There was the implosion of Flemings first marriage; the lifelong transgender friend hed supported after her transition; the diagnosis of his autistic daughter; the death of Flemings brother, a cellist in the Kennedy Centers orchestra. Damn straight, I told them to use condoms! Fleming said. I had a gay brother who died of AIDS.

The week he was fired, Fleming was on an airplane with his wife and teenage sons when he had chest pains. Doctors diagnosed a heart attack. The likely cause was stress. When the firing came down just afterward, he said, it was a genuine surprise.

But then there was the ruling: especially sweet revenge. The pictures, the touchingAbsolutely I patted this kid on the back twice, he summarized. So. The f. What. What are you alleging here? He answered his own question. I was charged with not being liked by the administration.

Many colleagues quietly agreed. Unnerved by the whole affair, the Faculty Senate proposed fundamental reforms to the way Annapolis pursues misconduct claims. Drew, the English professor, chaired the committee. They proposed an overhaul: clear standards of evidence and curtailing the tendency to pull professors from the classroom. Their report detailed how faculty had come to fear the Academys unpredictable, secretive, nearly unstoppable investigations, based solely on the claims of a student who has taken offense.

For all their concern, though, faculty wouldnt be donating to any Fleming Defense Fund. He is so high-maintenance, and he doesnt realize it, Drew complained. The department had spent more time on Fleming than on all of its other personnel issues combined. He said, What, am I supposed to be grateful that they saved me from the Nazis? And I said, Yeah, you are! Drew said. Hes got no sense of the harms hes done to the English departmentthe hit that chairs have had to take in order to defend him. And after all that, the school had done nothing more than acknowledge receipt of the facultys report and put it on the shelf.

Outside Bancroft Hall on the day I visited, as Fleming led me through the campus, I posed a crazy question: Had he ever considered apologizingto students, say, or to Phillips?

Fleming planted both feet abruptly. When would I have apologized to him?

He was glowering. Not an apology in earnest, I assured himGod forbidbut simply for tactical value.

But I have no idea what that means.

I laid out a scenario:I care deeply about the midshipmen. Clearly, I missed the mark with some. Ill keep this in mind for next time.Such little effort could do so much, I nudged, to neutralize the Navys portrait of an unfeeling, egomaniacal narcissist.

I was already on the gallows with the noose around my neck. And youre saying: Should I have been nicer to the guy who took me there or something? he asked. He immediately moved to trashing my reputation, to sending out e-mails to all my students saying this man is accused of doing very bad things, he sets up a blah blah blah, and then he fing fires me. And Im supposed to say, Oh, gosh, Im really sorry I hurt this kids feelings? No, I dont think so.

Anyway, Im this fly that has to be squashed, he said. You know, the ugly little guy is always going toobviously Im not ugly, and Im not little, and I dont give up. You know, I have to get on their nerves. If I were more squashable andif I were a cripple or something, or not bright or whatever, I wouldnt get on their nerves as much.

The Academys appeal could take years, Flemings lawyer says, which may be just fine with the school. Every supe that Ive known, Drew told me, has wanted to be the one that could bring down Bruce Fleming.

This article appears in the March 2020 issue of Washingtonian.

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The Naval Academy's War with a Professor Who Sends Shirtless Pics, Offends Women and Minoritiesand Somehow Came Out On Top - Washingtonian

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau rejected a petition by the progressive Free Press on Monday to weaponize the agency against broadcasters and conservatives to censor political speech.

Free Press recently petitioned the FCC to censor broadcasters from showing President Donald Trumps press conferences on the coronavirus outbreak.

When the president tells dangerous lies about a public health emergency, broadcasters have a choice: dont air them, or put those lies in context with disclaimers noting that they may be untrue and are unverified, Free Presswrote in its petition. And certainly the FCC has a duty to rein in radio broadcasters that seed confusion with lies and disinformation.

The FCC denied the petition in a letter to the Free Press, contending that the proposal misconstrues the Commissions rules and seeks remedies that would dangerously curtail the freedom of the press embodied in the First Amendment.

Pai said:

Under my leadership, the FCC has always stood firmly in defense of Americans First Amendment freedoms, including freedom of the press. And so long as I am Chairman of this agency, we always will. The federal government will notand never shouldinvestigate broadcasters for their editorial judgments simply because a special interest group is angry at the views being expressed on the air as well as those expressing them. In short, we will not censor the news. Instead, consistent with the First Amendment, we leave it to broadcasters to determine for themselves how to cover this national emergency, including live events involving our nations leaders.

In its letter to Free Press, the FCC concluded that:

The FCC letter noted lobbying broadcasters to add disclosures would add significant burdens, which could chill news coverageat a time when information is one of the only weapons the American public has to protect itself from a contagious and deadly virus.

The agency added that free speech serves as the best tool for finding the truth. The FCC noted:

The rapid and comprehensive coverage of the present pandemic, free from burdensome disclaimers, agency investigation, or other government oversight, advances the public interest in maximizing information flow, while facilitating the vetting of statements by public officials via the ordinary journalistic process.

In short, we will not second-guess broadcasters (much less deploy the formal investigative power of the state against them) that are serving a critical function in providing the public comprehensive coverage of the current public health crisis and the governments response.

We leave to the press its time-honored and constitutionally protected role in testing the claims made by our political leadersas well as those made by national advocacy organizations.

The Federal Communications Commission believes that freedom of the press is essential to a free society and a functioning democracy, the FCC concluded in its letter to Free Press.

Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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FCC Rejects Petition that Would Have Dangerously Curtailed Free Speech - Breitbart