At an online town hall meeting at Northwestern University held recently, attendees began by denouncing themselves as racist.
“I’m Jim Speta. And I am a racist,” Speta, the interim dean of Northwestern University Law School, said in the meeting chat thread.
“My name is Emily Mullin. I am a racist and a gatekeeper of white supremacy. I will work to be better,” another attendee wrote.
The screenshot of the meeting was provided by author Rod Dreher on Twitter, which included a quote from a reader suggesting the interim dean was “forced” to say it. “Prof. Speta is not racist. He is a wonderful man universally loved by students. It makes me sad he was forced to say otherwise,” the reader said.
Northwestern U. law school had a town hall meeting online recently. Everybody began w/ a ritual denunciation of themselves as racist. Reader: “Prof. Speta is not a racist. He is a wonderful man universally loved by students. It makes me sad that he is forced to say otherwise.” pic.twitter.com/O45UX8ver2
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) September 1, 2020
This isn’t the first time the school made headlines for pursuing a social justice orthodoxy. In 2019, the school’s paper apologized for sending a reporter to cover a speech given by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Leaders of the Daily Northwestern said their coverage “harmed” students because it included photos of a protest outside of Sessions’s speech.
Northwestern University administrators issued a policy making final exams optional amid coronavirus lockdowns, but statistics professor Martin Tanner told students taking the final exam would be for their own good. Tanner was later contacted by administrators and sent an email apologizing for causing “anxiety.” The final exams for his classes were ultimately canceled.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Speta for comment but did not hear back in time for print.
