Lawmakers demand to know why UNL is hostile to conservatives

Three Nebraska State Senators are demanding answers after professors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln were caught on tape harassing a conservative student on campus.

Steve Halloran, Steve Erdman, and Tom Brewer posed their questions in an op-ed in The Hastings Tribune, voicing concerns about the way that UNL has handled its investigation of the faculty members involved in harassing Turning Point USA chapter president Katie Mullen while she tried to recruit new members recently.

"Does anyone teach English anymore at UNL?"

[RELATED: State Sen. demands UNL fire prof who ‘berated’ conservatives]

“Are professors at UNL hostile toward conservative students?” the senators ask, noting that the instructors had surrounded Mullen’s table while “labeling her as a neo-fascist and verbally assaulting her as a ‘Becky,’ a racist term for sexually loose white women.”

The senators then proceed to ask whether university administrators are “warm, welcoming, inviting and transparent towards conservative students,” asserting that Mullen was made to feel “outnumbered and intimidated” when she was asked to meet with four administrators by herself, so much so that she “insisted on bringing her own attorney to the meeting.”

Indeed, the senators wonder whether UNL is even capable of conducting “an honest investigation when a conservative student is involved,” claiming that during the meeting with Mullen, administrators played a video tape that “was mysteriously missing a 10-minute interval when, according to Mullen, Gailey had protested against her with a sign.”

[RELATED: VIDEO: Profs bully TPUSA prez while she recruits on campus]

According to the senators, Chancellor Ronnie Green’s explanation for the missing segment “was that the camera suddenly stopped filming in that particular location and jumped to another area of the campus.”

The senators then go on to question UNL’s supposed “free speech zones”, citing conflicting statements from various administrators regarding how such zones are treated, and even whether they exist at UNL.

The senators conclude with an even sharper question, asking, “Does anyone teach English anymore at UNL?”

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The UNL English Department’s website, they point out, states that its core values are “1) Pursuing social justice, 2) Affirming diversity, 3) Engaging with a broad array of real and imagined communities based on empathetic understanding, 4) Fostering a sense of belonging, and 5) Instilling a desire for civic engagement.”

“Strangely missing from these core values are traditional English department words such as ‘classic literature studies,’ ‘writing,’ ‘poetry,’ ‘fiction,’ ‘grammar,’ and ‘novel,’” the senators observe. “Instead, the English department at UNL proudly displays several political posters.”

[RELATED: English Dept. covered in signs attacking Trump, capitalism]

“Most disturbing, though, is the fact that the English department’s webpage is missing anything which even remotely resembles a traditional English education,” the senators conclude. “As you can see, as state senators we have justifiable reasons to be concerned about the social condition and discriminatory actions of our state’s flagship university.”

Campus Reform is reach out to the senators and the university, and is currently awaiting responses. This article will be updated if and when their replies are received.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @asabes10