Andrew Feys, president of Michigan Technological University's Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter, explains that a mock Berlin Wall was recently constructed on campus as part of YAF's Freedom Week project.
"It was meant as a space to have students express their free speech and their opinions and beliefs in an open space where you could just write whatever you wanted," Faye details.
The Berlin Wall, a foreboding vestige of the Cold War that divided communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin, fell on Nov. 9, 1989. At Michigan Tech, students were invited on Nov. 10 to spray paint the mock wall throughout the day and help destroy it at the end of the day.
But history and anthropology professor Dr. Carl Blair did not approve of the display.
"For those of you who weren't aware of it, good," he told his class. "For those of you who were aware of it, it was childish, stupid, homophobic, dumb, racist twits. That's the polite version."
"He had a problem with that free speech," Feys asserts. "He made those statements about us during his class and didn't understand that that was free speech and protected speech [as he] slandered our organization in the process of preaching to his class."
Last week, Fox News Digital reported that Andrew Storer, the university's senior vice president for academic affairs, had announced via email that Blair would be replaced following the Thanksgiving break:
As an institution with a strong research focus, Michigan Tech vigorously supports freedom of speech and academic freedom. We follow the Chicago Principles in this manner. With this, we expect an environment of respect and acceptance of diverse perspectives, perhaps most importantly within our classrooms. We regret that this has not been your experience in this class this week.
Tomorrow's class (Friday Nov. 17) has been canceled, and upon return after the Thanksgiving break, we have arranged for a different instructor for the remainder of the semester. You will receive information from your new instructor prior to the first day of class after break.
"We stand for free speech, and we're glad that the university was able to do the same," Feys responds.
Dr. Carl Blair did not answer AFN's request for comment.
