Evergreen State College released a 38-page report about the events that overwhelmed the campus last year and Campus Reform spoke a few professors at the school, several of whom said the report fell short in various ways. Though the report is touted as an “Independent External Review” its members were nominated by President George Bridges who was neck-deep in the events last year.

Michael Zimmerman, former Provost and VP of Academic Affairs at Evergreen State, told Campus Reform that because members of the panel were handpicked by Bridges, the report could not be considered “Independent” in any way. In addition, Zimmerman claimed that Bridges and his Chief of Staff, John Carmichael, saw a “draft report” of the panel’s findings before the final draft was released.

Prof. Mike Panos said the report read like an April Fools joke but that faculty members are too scared to speak up about it because of looming layoffs:

“Somehow I must have missed the customary ‘April Fools!’ proclamation that normally follows these types of hoaxes, fake stories, and practical jokes,” Paros remarks in an op-ed provided to Campus Reform, asserting that faculty and staff members are scared to speak out because they fear losing their jobs if they do. “Faculty and staff are also embarrassed but remain silent out of fear of losing their jobs,” he writes, saying school employees are well aware “that the college President himself will ultimately decide how to implement the twelve percent budget cuts needed to make up for plummeting enrollment.”… However, the professor stresses that most of the students he teaches “don’t want to be shielded from ideas and content they find discomforting and challenging,” saying they “resent being stereotyped as intellectually and emotionally fragile due to their skin color, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, veteran status, and age,” and that “Many feel humiliated by the vulgar behavior of fellow students and the administration’s cowardly reaction.”

Evergreen is anticipating an enrollment decline of 10-20 percent next year and has already cut some positions and warned that other cuts could be forthcoming. In that environment, it’s not surprising that no one wants to stand up and critique the so-called independent report.

The report never interviewed Professor Bret Weinstein and doesn’t mention him by name but still blames him for taking the problems on the campus to Fox News and other media outlets. How do you issue a fair report when the key figure in the events under discussion never had a chance to weigh in on anything and the other key figure (President Bridges) selected the reviewers? I guess that’s just the Evergreen way.