UCLA Professor Gordon Klein has been placed on leave simply for denying a request to postpone exams for black students in the wake of George Floyd’s tragic death.
UCLA Caves To Pressure – Suspends Professor Klein
Fox News reported that the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) made the decision to suspend Professor Gordon Klein after over 20,000 people signed a petition calling for him to be fired.
Klein has been an accounting professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business for 39 years.
Students asked Klein for a “no-harm” final exam, shortened exams, and extended deadlines for final assignments and projects. These students cited the “traumas” they’d faced after the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis, Minnesota last month.
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The UCLA professor, however, was not having any of it.
Professor Klein Stands Up To Students
“Thanks for your suggestion in your email below that I give black students special treatment, given the tragedy in Minnesota,” Klein wrote in an email to students obtained by the Daily Bruin.
“Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we’ve been having online classes only? Are there any students that may be of mixed parentage, such as half black-half Asian? What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half?”
The UCLA professor went on to question how he would be able to ascertain which students were black, given the fact that the class was online.
“One last thing strikes me: Remember that MLK famously said that people should not be evaluated based on the ‘color of their skin,’” Klein added. “Do you think that your request would run afoul of MLK’s admonition?”
He had also said in another email students that the university rules were that he could only allow such exam delays in “rare exceptions”. And Professor Klein did not feel like this was one of them.
Sounds reasonable enough, right? Not in 2020!
UCLA Students Demand Professor Klein Be Fired
A liberal mob quickly formed against Klein.
They then called for UCLA to fire him despite his decades-long career in academia. Their petition demanded Klein be held accountable for “holistic” and “inclusive” that they feel owed.
“We ask for your support now in holding Professor Klein to the same ethical standards he claims to be essential to a holistic and inclusive educational experience, which is what he owes to his students as an educational leader,” the petition states. “We, the students, refuse to support Gordon Klein any further and demand to see his employment terminated as soon as possible.”
UCLA quickly submitted to the mob and suspended Professor Klein.
Anderson School of Management Dean Antonio Bernardo called Klein’s email “troubling”. And then agreed to extending exam times for students given the “difficult circumstances.”
An investigation has since been launched into Klein for discrimination. And he spent last night under police protection due to fears of violent attacks.
This is unfortunately a prime example of the crazy times we are living in. These days it often feels like the inmates have taken control of the asylum.
Standing up to the liberal Lynch mob these days can result in your life and career being ruined in an instant. Which is exactly what has happened to Gordon Klein.
FIRE Steps In To Help
Thankfully, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has stepped in to the UCLA professor.
On Wednesday, FIRE sent a letter to UCLA demanding that the school “immediately reinstate Klein”.
“UCLA’s decision to place Klein on leave is incompatible with the university’s First Amendment obligations and the basic tenets of academic freedom,” said Katlyn Patton, FIRE’s program officer for the Individual Rights Defense Program and Public Records.
Now, we can only hope that sanity prevails and that Professor Klein is given his job back.
Unfortunately though, with the inmates firmly in control of the asylum, it seems unlikely that will happen any time soon.
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