In university response to sign, one last victory for the Nazis
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It shouldn't take much for you to guess the exact wording Nichole Parsons used on her sign on her dorm window indicating that Nazis aren't welcome on the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst, but the focus on poor wording falls on the campus official who suggested she take it down, the Boston Globe reports today.
Now it's backpedaling in consideration of the First Amendment.
Her sign was a response to a swastika drawn on a “Happy Hanukkah” sign a Jewish resident assistant had hung near her dorm.
It's all so 2018.
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“I figured the person responsible would likely walk by my dorm and see it,” Parsons tells the Globe. “UMass administration has had abysmal response at best to the rising number of hate crimes on campus, so I thought someone should be publicly condemning these actions.”
Eddie Papazoni, one of the school's residence directors, "asked" Parsons to remove the sign, while agreeing it's protected speech.
“I am asking that you... take the sign down so that all students can be a part of an inclusive residential experience, as well as having a respectful environment to be a part of here on our campus.”
That leads to the obvious question: Why do Nazis, racists, and bigots deserve any respect?
Papazoni isn't talking.
A flak for the university told the paper the director's email to Parsons was poorly worded.
“UMass Amherst emphatically rejects Nazis, and any other hate group, a view expressed in the students’ sign,” UMass Amherst spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said. “However, we are sensitive to the use of profanity, which some may find inappropriate. The university respects the students’ right to display the sign and it may remain up.”
Parsons took the sign down because her roommate felt uncomfortable with the attention it was drawing. Parsons says she's already decided to move off campus.
And that's how the Nazis, bigots, and racists chalked up one last victory in 2018.
Meanwhile, at a Macy's in Dallas...