Does a professor have the right to say China virus ? At UDallas, the answer is no. | The College Fix
Countless academics have kept their eyes down and mouths shut as our colleagues have been attacked online or administratively over the things they ve said or done.
Now, cancel culture has come to our campus, University of Dallas. But I will not be silent.
The University News, the student-run newspaper, published an article Thursday accusing history Professor William Atto of misnaming COVID-19 on his syllabus.
The print edition of the article suggested he faced some sort of disciplinary action for it although an updated online version toned down such rhetoric.
The article was published more than three weeks after the professor was attacked on social media for his choice of words, and reports that University practice is to refer to this virus as COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 in accord with medical and scientific literature.
The print version, published Thursday, called it a policy, however, and alluded to disciplinary actions.
As chair of the History Department, it was news to me and likely all faculty that the university has a policy on referring to COVID. If it does in fact have such a policy, it certainly was not circulated before faculty drafted their syllabi in August.
As the chair of the History Department, I can also testify that no actual student ever approached Professor Atto with their concern. If they had, they might have discovered that this was a downright decent human being a pro-life, Christian family man who has dedicated his life to teaching young people about history.
I can additionally confirm that no student, parent or alumni has approached me with their concern about one of the faculty members in my department. I have not been informed of any civil rights complaint anonymous or otherwise against Professor Atto. I haven t received a single line of communication from social media warriors in my inbox.
The controversy leading up to the newspaper article started as we began our fall 2021 semester.
Boy does this sound familiar. We should all follow this controversy closely.