Once again, violence and intimidation have ruled the day.
I thought we were past this. After SDS and its anarchist friends were roundly hammered in the media after last spring’s protests, I thought the overwhelming negative reaction from the rest of campus would cow the radical left into giving up violence and intimidation tactics.
I was wrong.
Some unknown radical leftists recently placed fliers around campus attacking Youth for Western Civilization. On the fliers, they posted the home address of YWC faculty sponsor Elliot Cramer. They didn’t explicitly threaten anything as far as I know, but somehow I doubt those who posted the address intended for anyone to go to Cramer’s house for tea and crumpets.
YWC president Nikhil Patel sent him an email informing him of this. Cramer’s response was “I have a Colt 45 and I know how to use it.”
As a result, Holden Thorp asked him to resign as faculty sponsor of YWC. YWC now has 30 days to find a new sponsor.
Cramer says the comment was a joke. Thorp says “this just isn’t something we joke about.”
Here’s what is at stake here.
Cramer says that he felt threatened by the publication of his address. He has every right to feel that way. The Tancredo protests showed that these radical leftists are willing to use violence against YWC. And Cramer has every right to defend himself in his own house if he or his family are threatened. If he clearly warns other people of his intentions, all the better. That way, they can’t claim that they weren’t warned.
Chancellor Thorp should immediately apologize to Professor Cramer, offer to re-instate him as YWC’s faculty adviser and make it clear that the university should not have asked a professor to resign from a position just because he stated his intent to defend himself if attacked in his own home.
This is a disgrace.