Why Is Virginia Tech Protecting White Supremacist Instructor Who Threatened A Student?!!!

Meet Mark Neuhoff, a part-time instructor of English at Virginia Tech. In his free time, he enjoys white supremacy and making a mockery of the First Amendment by calling for violence against undergraduate students. Here’s a snapshot from one of his social media accounts (published under a different name):

Mark Neuhoff’s toxic views on race obviously upset a lot of people and attracted a lot of attention. According to The Root, students started looking into it, and one in particular - a young woman named Tori Coan. She reported her findings to friends and fellow students on her social media, and eventually brought her case to the Virginia Tech administration.

Now, meet Virginia Tech, a public university that learned they were paying a white supremacist. Did they have the same reaction any sane person would upon hearing this news? Did they feel sick to their stomachs, immediately fire him, then go home early from work to ugly-cry in the shower while trying to scrub the shame off of themselves?

Nope. They protected him. They said he had a right to “free speech.” Ah, yes. A university honoring its commitment to the sacred First Amendment, which guarantees protections for minority viewpoints and ensures academic freedom. It’s too bad that this was an obvious lie:  A few days later, when protesters confronted the university president about it, he responded by shutting down the protest. 

Soon the story was all over the national news. Someone claiming to be Neuhoff’s wife started sending e-mails to Coan’s colleagues calling her “stupid,” “immature,” an “a**hole” and a “coward.” Also right around this time, the brave racist instructor showed the true conviction of his beliefs and started trying to delete his white supremacist postings to hide the evidence of his horrible ideology.

But not before one of his alleged online social media accounts doxxed Tori Coan by publishing her phone number online, and instructing followers to “f**k her up.”

This. Is. Not. Free. Speech. It’s illegal to threaten people. It’s illegal to harass people. It’s illegal to incite others to commit violence against someone else. These are all crimes, because they are dangerous, hateful, disgusting things to do.  

After her phone blew up with calls from social media harassers, Coan went to the university administration and asked for help. They did nothing. Not a damn thing. 

There may be a nationwide debate going on about free speech, especially on campuses, but Virginia Tech is not making reasonable, thoughtful arguments about the need for a free intellectual climate. They’re just letting their students be victimized, and using the national debate as a shield to protect potentially criminal behavior by their own instructor. 

Virginia Tech isn’t doing this to protect free speech. Virginia Tech doesn’t give a damn about free speech. 

They are doing this to protect white supremacy.