http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/01/university_of_alabama_investig.html
A follow-up article announced that Alabama and her sorority denounced her behavior, and she has left the university.
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2018/01/harley_barber_apologizes_for_r.html
Good for them for showing this sort of behavior won’t be tolerated.
If you read the university’s statement carefully, it does not actually say they expelled her. The statement condemns her video and says “she is no longer enrolled here.” It may be that she went more or less voluntarily after realizing the magnitude of what she did and the resulting backlash. Alabama is a public university and I question whether it can constitutionally expel someone for hate speech. Remember Peter Cvjetanovic, the Nazi marcher whose picture was widely publicized in the Charlottesville marches? UNLV concluded it couldn’t expel or sanction him. http://college.usatoday.com/2017/08/14/nevada-student-faces-calls-for-expulsion-after-marching-in-charlottesville/ . But the student body at Alabama probably made it clear that she wasn’t welcome and that she should pack up and leave.
News outlets are citing the student’s claim that she was expelled.
The university hasn’t confirmed it. I agree that it’s an important distinction.
Also this only happened 48 hours ago. I’m sure there’s some sort of due process involved in the expulsion process and that if a student contests expulsion, it can’t be completed that fast. I suspect that they pressured her to agree to some sort of “voluntary” withdrawal and she wisely decided she should get out of Dodge.
Her membership in the sorority was immediately revoked. Her social life at Alabama was over (and I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a safe place for her). I think she withdrew.
I saw those videos earlier today…how can a college student be so awful?
Did she really think her sorority and her university would be OK with her believing and saying and posting those things? Seems she felt OK with the first two but tried to hide the third with a fake username.
Good to hear that words still have consequences.
They cannot legally expelled her. Everyone should understand that. The University may have done so taking the risk and assuming she wouldn’t fight them. I personally think that is absolutely wrong and a very dangerous action for a public university to engage in. I hope that instead it’s her sorority that kicked her out and that she withdrew because of that.
I’ll never understand how hate for a stranger can trump love for self to the point that some folk risk and give up everything. I love myself a million times more than I could ever hate anyone. She will regret her ignorance for a long time.
According to the articles, the ΑΦ sorority has stated that it expelled her, but the University of Alabama did not state that it did or did not take any disciplinary action (although it was investigating, made disapproving statements, and confirmed that she is no longer enrolled).
“Good for them for showing this sort of behavior won’t be tolerated.”
“Good to hear that words still have consequences.”
“Her social life at Alabama was over (and I’m guessing it wouldn’t be a safe place for her). I think she withdrew.”
I think the rant is repulsive, but what does “free speech” even mean then if a student is only allowed to say that which people do not find offensive at a public college? Even if the college took no action, should we be fine with the threat of vigilante action against people for what they say?
Mind you, I’m a minority and a liberal, but an old-fashioned ACLU liberal.
Looks like the “expelled from school” bit was mentioned in the New York Post article at https://nypost.com/2018/01/17/sorority-sister-booted-for-posting-profanity-laced-racist-videos/ , but there is no quote from either Barber or the University of Alabama to that effect.
Of course she’s allowed to say it. Her free-association-protected sorority is allowed to kick her out, too.
I hadn’t seen anyone say vigilante justice would be welcome.
Apparently a person recorded her Finsta then tagged U of Alabama asking is this what your school
is like/condones and shameful if so. Her professional career is over before it even started. Good!
Character matters. You can exercise your right to free speech any way you choose, but you’re a fool if you think “free” means “without consequence.”
No one violated her freedom of speech. She’s not in jail, is she? However, she gets kicked out of her sorority and possibly asked firmly to withdraw from school as consequences she earned.
I feel bad for her mother. This statement mentioning her daughter’s refusal to get treatment would seem to indicate there might be an ongoing history of some kind of personality disorder involved.
It doesn’t sound like she’s going home to mom’s house.
BTW, I forgot to comment on this earlier:
“I saw those videos earlier today…how can a college student be so awful?”
There are a lot of racists in this country (and to be fair, all around the world). It’s just that most of them are smart enough to hide it. I would be surprised to find a minority in this country over 40 who has not been subject to racial slurs multiple times in his/her life. I still remember walking home from the train station one time (in a middle-class/upper-middle-class Chicagoland suburb, though my parents and I lived in an apartment complex there) when some 20-something white guy in a fancy coupe with his girl on the passenger side yelled a racial slur at me before accelerating with both of them laughing.
The funny thing is, I had a similar rant directed at me while I was on the frat row of a public university a few months ago. As immature or short-sighted you all may see it, I have little regard for her right to promote hate speech without repercussions.
Considering how often adults tell kids to grow up, maybe the conversation should be less about what kids are “free” to do, and more about what they shouldn’t be doing to begin with.
“No one violated her freedom of speech. She’s not in jail, is she? However, she gets kicked out of her sorority and possibly asked firmly to withdraw from school as consequences she earned.”
Sigh. It’s sometimes depressing how little people know about their constitutional rights. So folks, lessons:
The Government, and that includes public universities, CAN NOT legally apply any consquence to your First Amendment protected speech. The First Amendment doesn’t just keep government entities from jailing you. They Can’t kick you out of school either. They can’t impose ANY consequences on protected speech.
“Hate Speech” is protected by the First Amendment. Period. Full stop.
Hate speech that is ALSO a threat is not protected. But you can’t try to wedge hateful, disgusting speech into a " threat". What occurred here " not a threat" (nor incitement nor any other sort of unprotected speech.
PRIVATE institutions ( like most private universities and Greek life organizations) are not bound by the First Amendment. They can punish you for speech. An exception is private schools in California. California state law makes private colleges and universities subject to the First Amendment.
I’m not impassioned about this because I think that this student did something right here. Her words were appalling. But many people really don’t fully understand how protecting her right to be free of government interference with her speech, also protects them when maybe some leader one day thinks that their words are hateful.