OU's Free Speech Virtue Signaling
OU Touts 'Free Speech Week' As DEI Actively Suppresses Free Speech On Campus
OU is preparing to celebrate Free Speech Week on campus. But the outward show of support for the First Amendment is directly contradicted by the foundational mission of OU’s Division of Ideological Enforcement (DEI).
According to a study released by The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) in September 2021, OU rates 110 out of 154 universities for free speech culture.
OU’s Division of Ideological Enforcement - which was established by OU President Joseph Harroz - is a direct contradiction to OU’s Free Speech Week virtue signaling.
The Division of DIE even has a reporting system that, despite not having a formal resolution process, lets students report incidents of “bias” by other students on campus.
At the end of the description for this Campus Climate & Incident Response Team, the Division of DEI also admits that this process is designed to not to be official. It is designed to weaponize peer pressure from activist students to manufacture outrage and drive out those students, faculty, and staff, who dare to expose their “bias” by dissenting to DIE (CRT/Antircist) ideology and policies.
I am not going let a big event designed to do nothing more than signal support for free speech at OU, distract from the facts about OU's everyday, free speech stifling policies that will continue long after the free speech week has passed. Neither should you. That is the definition of virtue signaling - a big flashy show designed to make the university look better than it actually is.
Actions speak louder than PR focused virtue signaling. If Joseph Harroz and OU administrators were serious about protecting free speech and academic freedom on campus, they would defund and remove OU’s Division of Ideological Enforcement. Because the only reason the Division exists, is to deter Freedom of Speech on campus.
Click the picture to sign The Declaration of Independence from wOKeU.
J. Mark Ousley, UnWokable
Sources:
https://ou.edu/freespeechweek
https://rankings.thefire.org/rank
https://www.ou.edu/diversity/about/bias-reporting