It appears the Reed College student who made headlines last week after allegedly being barred from his humanities course for voicing his controversial opinions about sexual assault may have been guilty of more than just exercising his right to free speech.
The professor who banned 19-year-old freshman Jeremiah True from attending the discussion section of his Humanities 110 lecture-seminar course spoke exclusively to Reason via e-mail, claiming that True was guilty of “disruptive behaviors.”
“He was not banned because of what he said but because of a series of disruptive behaviors,” wrote professor Pancho Savery, who described himself as a “strong believer in the First Amendment.”
Moreover, a member of True’s conference section said that True made controversial comments and on one occasion “began the class abruptly and loudly in an angry tone, reading the Honor Principle stating how no student should face a hostile environment, and demanding an apology of only female members of the class despite the equally strong reaction by the male ones.”
Last week, BuzzFeed reported that True said he was barred from the portion of his class solely for expressing his unpopular views of sexual assault. Particularly, True said he questioned the oft-cited statistic that 1 in 5 women have been sexually assaulted and argued that “rape culture” doesn’t exist.
He said nothing about “disruptive behaviors.” The private college in Portland, Oregon, permits professors to bar a student from class because of “serious misconduct.”
Reason also reached out to the student via e-mail for comment and received quite an odd response.
“Before I interview with you,” True wrote, “you must agree to make ‘n—-r’ be the first word in your article.”
Of course, Reason reporter Robby Soave declined to agree and True thus refused the interview.
