College Caves, Removes the Word 'Freedom' After Mob Says It's Dehumanizing
As the Black Lives Matter movement continues to push its way into the mainstream, an increasing number of colleges are caving to the far left’s radical demands.
Since the death of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who died on May 25 in police custody, the militants of BLM have continued to demand that individuals, businesses and even colleges show their “support for black lives” by caving to their every demand.
School officials at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania followed suit last week by removing the word “freedom” from university identification cards.
The change was made in response to a petition signed by 130 people that claimed the word “freedom” left “minority students” feeling “dehumanized.”
“Robert Morris University is a [predominantly white institution] with minority groups making up 24% of the student population. Like most institutions, we have student identification cards that allow us to get into buildings across campus and allow us to buy our food,” the petition said.
“Our student IDs are currently named, ‘Freedom Cards.’ This poorly named form of identification has made minority students (black students in particular) feel like we are being dehumanized. Gifting us with IDs that grant us our ‘freedom’ is of extremely poor taste. Especially coming from a University that is named after a slave owner.”
Robert Morris was, in fact, a slave owner. He also signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. There was both good and bad in Morris’ life, as is the case with many other founders of the country and other historical figures.
George Washington, for example, also owned slaves. In a 1786 letter addressed to Robert Morris, however, Washington declared that “there is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan adopted for the abolition of” slavery.
The writer of this petition didn’t understand that nuance, however.
The petition went on to claim that minority students are still “feeling the effects of slavery.” It also claimed that by reading the word “freedom,” “minority students” are reminded of that very fact “every time they pick up their IDs.”
In an email obtained by Campus Reform, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students John Michalenko said that “the Freedom Card is changing its name. The Robert Morris University ID is now the RMU ID Card.”
Jonathon Potts, vice president of marketing and public relations at RMU, added, “We had already been planning to redesign and rename our student, faculty, and staff identification cards to make them more widely recognized on campus and more easily communicate their purpose.”
Potts also noted that the university “nonetheless thought the time was right to communicate it to the students for whom it was a concern.”
This isn’t the only move RMU is making to appease the left.
On June 23, the school announced the formation of its new “Anti-Racism Task Force” which the explicit purpose of advancing “racial equity for Black students, faculty, staff and those impacted by anti-Black racism.”
We recognize that we must do more to advance racial equity for Black students, faculty, staff and those impacted by anti-Black racism.@DrChrisHoward launches the Anti-Racism Task Force as the next step towards a welcoming, inclusive and equitable campushttps://t.co/rad4f3xdgK pic.twitter.com/5QECRGCxHS
— Robert Morris University (@RMU) June 23, 2020
The term “anti-racist” was popularized by Ibram X. Kendi, a history professor and author who claims that not being racist is not enough. In order to combat racism, one must be “anti-racist” by promoting and supporting progressive, left-wing social justice policies.
If you don’t cave in to the far left’s demands, you are either racist or not opposing racism.
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