Every once in a while, the mask slips and you get to see what these people actually think. Not the DEI pamphlet version, not the “inclusive learning environment” brochure — but the real, seething neurosis of a coastal administrator who just realized that the Monster of Moral Clarity™ she spent a decade bottle-feeding is now setting her drapes on fire.
Enter Christina Paxson, President of Brown University, self-appointed Guardian of Civility™ and part-time thought police, and apparently a top Sapir contributor. Her recent Sapir article is the political equivalent of screaming “I support protests!” while frantically dialing the cops because some kids are chanting without her pre-approval.
She opens with Roger Williams and ends with a hostage plea for "civil discourse" — and in between, she tiptoes around the real issue: her pet activists grew fangs, started chanting in Arabic, and didn’t stop at the pre-approved slogans on her laminated “Acceptable Dissent” flashcards.
Let’s take a walk through this Ivy League fever dream and see just how many times she contradicts herself, rewrites history, or tries to wrap authoritarianism in the soothing language of student development.
“We live in a country that has long honored activists.”
Yes, but only the kind that aged well in your AP U.S. History textbook. The kind that protest your policies or disrupt your donors' dinner parties? Suddenly they’re “dehumanizing.”
“Across the country, there were moments when protests undeniably crossed the line into harmful dehumanization of groups of students on college campuses.”
Translation: My campus full of Che Guevara cosplayers suddenly remembered they hate Jews. Oops. This is the real reason Paxson is upset. Not because campus activism became extreme, but because it became uncomfortable for her and her peer group. If the mob had been screaming about carbon emissions or Florida's education policy, she’d be handing them megaphones and giving keynote addresses.
“No college or university should tolerate or accept protest that dehumanizes or harasses any member of the community.”
Ah, the classic sleight-of-hand: redefine disagreement as "dehumanization" and anything that challenges leftist orthodoxy becomes hate speech. Meanwhile, students shout “intifada” in the quad, chase Jews into libraries, and rip hostage posters off the wall — all under her watch.
Where was Paxson then? Too busy scheduling dialogue circles and praying the Board of Trustees didn’t see the footage.
“Activism should be about civility, humanity, and dialogue.”
Sure. Like the time Brown students stormed buildings and demanded mandatory anti-racism reeducation camps. That kind of dialogue?
Under Paxson's enlightened leadership:
Brown ranked among the top schools for speaker shout-downs.
The campus paper debated whether free speech was a white supremacist tool.
Jewish students were harassed for IDF service with zero administrative pushback.
Now she wants civility? The only reason she’s discovering moderation is because the mob turned its pitchforks slightly leftward.
“We must teach students about all the effective ways to create change: voting, volunteering, filing lawsuits…”
Translation: Rage, but make it resume-friendly. God forbid students do anything spontaneous or actually effective. Paxson wants revolution with a PowerPoint.
“I grew up Quaker but converted to Judaism, and I’m proud of my father-in-law who smuggled guns to help Holocaust survivors.”
Very touching. And yet here she is, lecturing 19-year-olds about protest etiquette. Her father-in-law risked prison; her students risk missing yoga class. But she thinks she’s the authority on activism?
“We must ensure that activism doesn’t create hostile environments.”
This is administrative speak for: “Please don’t get me fired.”
Let’s be clear. Paxson isn’t upset that the kids are protesting. She’s upset that they’re protesting the wrong things. Her precious activist class finally got off the leash — and now it’s growling at her.
She wants safe activism — safe for her job, her donors, her DEI consultants. She wants to raise a generation of revolutionaries who will bravely affirm everything their university already believes. She wants students who challenge power, as long as they don't challenge her power.
Modern Rashi says: You built the Frankenstein. You don’t get to whine when it starts lumbering through the faculty lounge.
You want real activism? Start by resigning the next time they protest you.
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