Student stands behind AAUP’s petition

By Preston Hicks

As a Rider alum, and now a returning student, I stand in solidarity with Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors in their petition to reinstate former adjunct social work Professor Kate Ecke, after her unjustified firing earlier this semester. This firing was cowardly, and has only served to chill the speech of Rider’s professors and reward outside harassment. The Facebook post that Ecke wrote in the aftermath of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, while callous, is a clear and obvious call for nonviolence. She does not celebrate Kirk’s death. She does not lionize his shooter. Ecke merely makes a point about the politics of gun violence in America. I grant that many considered her post offensive, and in poor taste. However, the critical lesson of Kirk’s assassination is that political speech must be protected, no matter how offensive or heinous we may individually believe it to be. To fire Ecke is to bow to the same anti-speech forces which made Kirk’s death possible. 

I find the Rider administration’s framing of the threats against Ecke to be particularly infuriating. In Rider President John Loyack’s email to campus, he writes “During our review of this matter, several individuals at Rider received a threat directed at our campus as a result of this individual’s actions.” This is a blatantly misleading use of the passive voice to turn threats made against Ecke into threats caused by Ecke. Such transparent victim blaming leaves me fearful for my own safety: If my speech angers the wrong person and I receive threats of violence, will I be the one punished because my speech “resulted in threats against the campus?” 

The firing of Ecke comes as the Trump administration is gearing up for a full-frontal assault on the speech of his critics. The Trump administration, alongside powerful influencers in the Make America Great Again movement, have used Kirk’s death to further inflame tensions in this country, and call for vengeance against liberals, even before we had a hint at the shooter’s motives. In response, the right began a cancellation campaign that has already taken the jobs of many average American workers. This campaign also extends to prominent celebrities such as Jimmy Kimmel, who was temporarily pulled from the air after accusing the right side of using Kirk’s death to score political points. Even more disturbing, there has been an explosion of violent rhetoric on conservative social media platforms, including calls to “hang the entire Democratic Party” and “end democracy.” In this context, it is hard to see Ecke’s firing as anything other than obeying in advance. The university does not want to become the target of the Trump administration’s revenge and so, rather than band together with other universities and institutions in order to resist its attacks on free speech, the university has done exactly what Trump wants: target political speech which is not sufficiently obsequious to the MAGA movement. 

The outrage against Ecke’s post is also a part of the MAGA movement’s long-running practice of targeting liberal professors for their beliefs through harassment campaigns. Since 2016, Turning Point USA has run a “Professor Watchlist” — a list of professors whose ideology they deem too far left. Professors on this list have faced harassment and even death threats. It is unacceptable that Rider’s administration is either unaware of the MAGA right’s modus operandi, or unwilling to protect its professors, from this wave of harassment. 

By bowing to the harassment campaign against Ecke, Rider’s administration has validated the violent threats made against her and the campus. This will have the obvious effect of emboldening them. After all, their tactics worked. How am I supposed to feel like I am safe to exist on a campus whose leadership is so feckless as to bow to far-right threats, rather than stand strong against them? President Loyack, Rider’s professors have given you an offramp. I stand alongside them in calling for an official apology, and for Ecke’s  reinstatement. In doing so, you will prove that you have the best interests of Rider’s students and faculty in mind.

Preston Hicks is a Rider ’22 alum and current continuing education student majoring in history and secondary education