USC economics Professor John Strauss, who was ordered to stay off campus after he got into a confrontation with pro-Hamas student demonstrators, can set foot on campus again, reports the Los Angeles Times. But he remains under investigation.
“Strauss is allowed to return to campus as the university continues its investigation into his comments about Hamas during a student protest, according to his lawyer.”
The exclusion order ended on December 2, the day after the fall semester of classes ended, with final exams taking place this week.
“This is a step in the right direction,” says Strauss’ civil rights attorney. “But he is still under investigation and facing potential discipline for his speech, which is both a violation of USC’s own promises of free speech and an outrageous, viewpoint-discriminatory double standard in terms of how USC enforces its policies.”
What precipitated the investigation of Strauss is an interaction the professor had with students engaged in a protest a month ago. In the unedited video of the exchange, Strauss said “people are ignorant” as he walked by the protest, adding that “Hamas are murderers. That’s all they are. Every one should be killed, and I hope they all are.”
But an edited version of the exchange that was posted on social media left out the reference to Hamas, leaving viewers with the misimpression that he was advocating killing all Palestinians. In response, USC put Strauss on paid administrative leave three weeks ago, but days later administrators let him teach his fall semester classes overt the internet using Zoom.
Two petitions about Strauss were posted on social media, one in support of Strauss, which currently has over 9,000 signatures, and one demanding his termination, with over 6,500 signatures.
The Academic Freedom Alliance, a coalition of academics devoted to protecting freedom of expression, wrote to USC’s Provost Andrew Guzman, calling for Strauss’s full reinstatement.
Its letter said Strauss’s remarks were “fully in bounds of protected First Amendment speech” and that “the university’s actions represent an egregious violation of the principles of freedom of expression and due process which the University of Southern California has contractually committed itself.”
Colleges have been allowing illegal, masked pro-Hamas rallies, even in states where appellate courts have upheld statutory mask bans against First Amendment challenges. That includes Virginia, where George Mason University knowingly allowed a masked pro-Hamas rally even though the Virginia Court of Appeals has upheld Virginia’s ban on public mask-wearing, which has been enforced against alt-right demonstrators. The local progressive prosecutor, Steve Descano, refuses to enforce the mask ban against pro-Hamas demonstrators. The Washington Post reported that Descano was elected with the backing of George Soros, whose political action committee has spent over a million dollars to elect him.
In Charlottesville during the Trump administration, the press warned the public in advance of right-wing demonstrations that “Law enforcement will also be enforcing Code of Virginia § 18.2-422 – Prohibition of wearing of masks in certain places: ‘It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place…However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes….’”
But campus police are not enforcing this law against pro-Hamas protestors, because progressive college officials don’t want them to. As a George Mason University law professor notes,
Below is a picture that a friend forwarded to me from a Students for Justice in Palestine rally at my university’s Fairfax campus. The organizers advised students to wear face coverings to hide their identities (one post specifically about this rally advised the students to wear face coverings, another post on general protest advice told students to hide their identities, including their faces).
Like many states, Virginia has a law, aimed at hate groups like the KKK (and, for that matter, SJP), prohibiting the wearing of face coverings in public, except for theatrical or medical reasons or during a state of health emergency (which does not currently exist in Virginia): “It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in this Commonwealth without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing.” Virginia statutes § 18.2-422.
Are such laws a good idea? Are they constitutional? I am ambivalent on both counts. There is significant value in allowing for anonymous protest, and also significant value in not allowing masked hate groups to intimidate others–I’ve been told by a reliable source that Jewish students at Mason were terrified to be out and about during this rally–and potentially cover up criminal behavior by masking their identities in public. Some courts have upheld these laws in modern cases, others have found that they violate the First Amendment. It’s a genuinely difficult issue, I think.
But regardless of my views, the law is on the books, creates a felony, and has been upheld in a decision of the Virginia Court of Appeals. The police should not get to pick and choose which laws they enforce and against whom.
I know from my friend that several people called the George Mason University police in advance to inform them that a masked rally was scheduled to occur, that wearing a mask at such a rally is a felony, and that they want the police not to arrest the students or quash the rally, but only to require them comply with the law and not wear masks. Obviously, the police did nothing, apparently telling people that since the rally was peaceful, they weren’t going to interfere. Surely, however, if a KKK or neo-Nazi rally was taking place on campus, no matter how “peaceful,” the police would have enforced the law. That’s what’s known as selective enforcement, and it’s a real problem.
George Mason University is in Fairfax County, where the elected chief prosecutor is leftist Steve Descano. Descano unseated a mainstream liberal incumbent in the 2019 Democratic primary, after left-wing billionaire George Soros spent large sums in support of Descano’s campaign to defeat the incumbent Commonwealth’s Attorney. (Soros prefers Descano because left-winger Descano is softer on crime than a mainstream liberal would be).
Viewpoint discriminatory exemptions for certain protesters violates the First Amendment and equal protection clause under the Supreme Court’s decision in Police Department v. Mosley (1972), Selective enforcement of rules to protect some protests but not others violates federal court rulings like Dwares v. City of New York (1992). Some pro-Hamas students also do things like painting graffiti — which is not protected by the First Amendment — and tearing down posters of kidnapped Israeli children.
Colleges are applying campus rules against inappropriate remarks in a selective fashion. Washington University in St. Louis investigated a professor for anti-Hamas remarks that some people viewed as dehumanizing toward Palestinians. But at Cornell University, there was no investigation of a professor who called the Hamas terror attacks “exhilarating” and “exciting.”
A diversity and inclusion director at Cornell University supported the Hamas terror attack, writing that Hamas was “fighting for life, dignity, and freedom…against settler colonization, imperialism, capitalism, white supremacy, which the United States is the model.”
Universities that routinely speak out against microaggressions, Supreme Court decisions, Republican legislation, and things like students wearing sombreros to Halloween parties could not bring themselves to condemn either the Hamas terror attacks that killed at least 1400 people, or campus protests that explicitly praised the terror attacks. One university claimed it must remain neutral about “geopolitical issues and news events.” Such universities have often taken sides on political issues, such as climate change policy, and spoken out about news events, such as the death of George Floyd.
Northwestern University, which publicly criticized the Supreme Court for ruling against race-based college admissions, refused to “make an institutional statement” about the terror attacks by Hamas that killed relatives of some of its students.
Hamas kidnapped many civilians, including small children, seizing them as hostages. This hostage-taking came after the Biden administration agreed to pay a $6 billion ransom to Iran in exchange for the release of five American hostages. Hamas admits Iran gave it weapons it used in its attack on Israel. The Biden administration released millions of dollars to the Hamas-controlled government of the Gaza strip.
