Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Willful, crusading ignorance

A janitor/student at IUPUI (Indiana) Keith John Sampson was charged with racial harassment by a co-worker for reading a book on his break time about the Klan. The book was actually anti-Klan, but all the woman saw was the word Klan. She didn't ask, just filed a complaint. The office of equal opportunity (one woman) found him guilty without ever looking at the book (Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan) and put the finding in his permanent record. This amazing story, and a very well made film about the incident is at the FIRE blog. Eventually, the president of IUPUI apologized to the student when it became national news through FIRE's effort, but the woman was promoted, and no faculty member ever came to his defense. It makes you wonder what country we're living in.

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