Students For Academic Freedom

Professor Steals Bush/Cheney Sign at CSU-Chico · 28 October 2004

Editor's note: As the 2004 election approaches, partisanship is running high on many campuses. A prime example of this occured at a meeting of the College Republicans at Cal State University-Chico where a sociology professor stole a Bush/Cheney sign from the College Republicans and showed no shame when confronted. Shaun Curry, president of the Chico College Republicans, wrote to University president Paul Zingg to ask him to take action, but as of yet has received only a one-sentence response. Shaun's letter follows below.

President Zingg,

I appreciate your prompt response. I apologize for not getting back to you
sooner but we have had many things going on that have kept me busy. I will
respond to your last email at a later date but wanted to inform you of an
incident that occurred just last night that may be of interest to you.

Our club had our usual weekly meeting last night, although, this was no ordinary
meeting. We had US Congressman Wally Herger in attendance to speak to my group.
Also, Larry Wahl was on hand to obtain some endorsements from the club. As we
spoke outside our meeting room, one of my officers noticed a woman tear down one
of our Bush/Cheney signs and take it with her on to the elevator. He immediately
followed her to retrieve our sign as we are in very low supply. He followed her
to the sixth floor and caught up with her and requested that she return it to
him. She informed him that she had already discarded it. She also informed him
that he could turn her into the police (as we shall). This woman was none other
than one of your professors that works in the Sociology department. Liahna E.
Gordon is her name. Is this the type of example that we set for our students at
this school? Are these the type of Professors that we want instructing our
students? If this is the level of maturity among our Professors and students, I
am ashamed to be a part of it. This is absolutely unacceptable that behavior
like this should be going on among students, but to see it occur among one of
your faculty members is reprehensible. This institution seems to clearly be
under no control when it's professors are tearing down signs of one political
party. Our organization will take the proper steps in events like these, as I
hope you will too. I appreciate your help in this matter. Take Care.
-Shaun Curry


Here is the response from President Zingg:

Shaun -- By copy of this note to others, I will alert them to this incident and
direct follow-up with you and others as appropriate. Paul Zingg


Shaun commented on this email exchange:
What is ironic about this is only a week earlier President Zingg had issued a student body email that specifically dealt with a problem the school was facing with flyers and signs being ripped down or defiled. This was in response to some students writing on Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 flyers. He classified these incidents as "hate crimes" and made no distinction between them and the racist slurs that were spray painted on certain people's cars.

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