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Originally Posted by Ashasx
Why is it an "ultra conservative spin"? What was spun?
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People really need digital literacy education. Why the "ultra-conservative spin?" Hmm, let's look at the sources.
Original article is from "The College Fix." The College Fix is a self-identified conservative watchdog blog associated with the Student Free Press, both activist organizations "designed to groom young conservatives for careers in the news media by placing college students in internships with right-leaning publications." Both interest are funded through endowments which link back to the Koch Brothers and have Rick DeVos as a board member (yes, Betsy's brother). The Chronicle of Higher Education has identified The College Fix as an interest that routinely misreports the facts - nee lies about stories.
Next, go to Andrew Lawton's blog where you can listen to the actual recording, which is bull#### move by the student if the faculty member was unaware of the recording going on. As Pepsi pointed out, Lawton is an very conservative individual with a very conservative perspective. Far be it for him to spin something to his advantage. Lawton has never been accused of that, or anything beyond the expected behaviors of the high quality journalist he claims to be, right? So he couldn't possibly be blowing this out of proportion?
Listen to the audio! The discussion between the student (Valerie Flokstra) and professor (Nancy Norman) and Department Chair (Vandy Britton) portrays a much different tenor and focus that that portrayed. The faculty member explains to the student that she should be aware of her surroundings - called critical mindedness, or being open to others and their points of view - and respect the other students in the class. The faculty member actually reminds the student that the class was on autism and not abortion, and that she should stay focused on the subject matter rather than introduce unrelated content that could muddy the waters of the discussion. At no time did anyone in the room suggest the student was in trouble or censored in any way. In fact, they just reminded the student that she was one of 31 voices in the room. Based on the exasperation in the voice of the Chair, it seems this may not be the first time this student has been problematic in class and they are trying to correct a student's behaviors. Not surprisingly, the audio runs out as the instructor begins to articulate exactly why the student was wrong in introducing the subject matter in the classroom.
The student in question is obviously an activist and flaunts her beliefs aggressively. My experience is that the people who cry free speech are the ones who are the most disruptive and the ones who use their speech as a weapon. She repeats the term free speech five times in the short discussion with faculty member and department chair.
If you go back to the primary source and listen to the audio you can immediately see this is a hit piece meant to create a controversy. A student went into a classroom with an agenda and got called out for it. She cut a very selective portion from a recording of a one hour conference and tried to use that as a platform. The right wing noise machine got a hold of it and amplified it to become something way bigger than it was - reframing it as an affront to an individual's beliefs and freedom of speech, rather than focusing on the actual behaviors of the student that lead to the conference in the first place. So yeah, this was all spin, and it was pushed further and further right as things went along.