ANALYSIS: President Tania Tetlow questioned the opinions of the country’s free speech organization, but their conclusions are open to the public.
Fordham University’s president praised the institution for punishing a scholar for his pro-gun Instagram post, saying she does not know why her school receives lower scores for free speech.
Tania Tetlow made the comments last week on the” Freakonomics” radio hosted by Stephen Dubner, co- author of the popular book by the same brand.
Dubner and Tetlow ( pictured, right ) were discussing how to balance free speech with campus activities while discussing pro-Palestinian protests and encampments. Dubner mentioned a discussion that predated Tetlow, which was when Fordham forbade the start of a Students for Justice in Palestine organization in 2016.
Finally he brought up the college rankings from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. With a 244 out of 248 rating, Fordham received one of the lowest scores of all.
Dubner asked:
And I’m also aware that Fordham ranks among the bottom 10 for institutions or universities nationwide in terms of free speech, according to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, which examines free speech on schools. So how do you, as a president, try to create a balance where you’re not limiting free speech, but also not turning your campus into a hotbed where it ca n’t accomplish the central purpose?
Tetlow expressed her concerns about how Hearth compiles its ranking.
” First of all, those FIRE rankings, we do n’t really understand how they come to them”, Tetlow said.
She then praised her university for punishing a Chinese immigrant student ( pictured, left ) who posted a pro-gun message on his social media in 2020. The tragedy even predates her president, which began in 2022.
” At Fordham, we reportedly — and it got disputed — suspended a scholar who, after a verbal debate with other individuals, went and bought an assault weapons and subsequently posted that on cultural media”, Tetlow said. ” If he had shot up the school, we would have been reamed if we had never done anything”.
She therefore criticized” some free conversation fanatic party” for its condemnation of the school.
Hearth responded to Tetlow’s feedback, pointing out some errors.
In a new blog post, FIRE wrote that Tetlow’s knowledge of the rankings “is more an accusation of Fordham than of our ranks.”
According to FIRE,” we make the information on which we base the ranks officially available, and we make the commitment to open and transparent research public.” Nobody who is motivated to look into any aspect of our positions is unknown.
Then it turned to Tetlow’s account of Austin Tong, an Asiatic student who posted a pro-gun and libertarian information on his individual social media account.
Hearth wrote:
In a number of crucial way, Tetlow misrepresents the situation. On the 31st anniversary of the massacre, Tiananmen Square is marked with the popular libertarian phrase” Do n’t tread on me,” an American flag, and a Chinese flag, and a hashtag for the same thing. For this, Fordham dispatched security guards to meet with Tong, who discovered he was n’t a threat and later asked him to remove the post. Fordham next found him guilty of assertedly violating university policies on “bias and/or hate offences” and” threats/intimidation”.
Tetlow is wrong to accuse it of hypocrisy, according to the federal free speech organization. The Fordham leader had suggested that pro-Palestinian carry on campus should be restricted as well. Free speech activists also wanted her to.
” This allegation of duplicity is confusing, and we are not sure how it could use to FIRE”, the group wrote. ” Throughout our past, and particularly since the October 7 attack,” we have been firmly democratic and defended many students and faculty on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
” We will launch our 2025 positions in early September, but without major changes on the ground, Fordham does not expect to fare much better”.
MORE: UChicago law students fight forced dues to anti-Israel union
IMAGES: Tiana Tetlow/ Instagram, Austin Tong/Instagram
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