Illustration by John Hiller/ Staff Illustrator
Jordan Smith
Contributing Columnist
[email protected]
The University of Alabama announced that Jamie Riley, assistant vice president and dean of students, Ph.D., resigned by “mutual agreement” last week.
Riley’s resignation came after images of his tweets resurfaced concerning systemic racism in America.
Riley’s First Amendment rights were infringed upon by the university. A university that has such a racist history, a university that offers privileged space only to again serve to the disadvantage of a black man.
One of his tweets read, “American flag represents a systemic history of racism for my people. Police are a part of that system.”
Another tweet read, “the first thing white people say is, ‘that’s not racist!’ when they can’t even experience racism. You have 0 opinion.”
Although the decision is said to have been “mutually agreed” upon by both Riley and the University, UA contradicts their policy of encouraging students and faculty to exercise their freedom of speech.
Is Riley not entitled to freedom of speech?
The right to free speech gives citizens the free will to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government.
If the government is not allowed to interfere with a citizen’s right to free speech, why did the University of Alabama have the power to come to a “mutual agreement” six months after Riley accepted a career changing opportunity.
Twitter has its own policies and did not censor the tweets, delete them, or remove Riley’s account. The two year old tweets were reported to a far alt right website, Breitbart News.
Although the historically racist institution commits itself to diversity, inclusion, and equity, could it just have been that Riley’s tweets offended the university officials?
Riley’s First Amendment rights were infringed upon by the university. A university that has such a racist history, a university that offers privileged space only to again serve to the disadvantage of a black man.
We as a society need to care for the protection of free expression.
Social media is a place for ideas and individual self-fulfillment and it should not be infringed upon by university officials who disagree. The importance of free speech is vital as social media continues to advance.
