Tobias Lanz has been an adjunct professor of political science for
some
twenty years at the University of South Carolina. In a class of 200
students cell phones go off, and Lanz eases the interruption by taking
the topic at hand, e.g. Russian policy in Syria, by saying “that must be
the Kremlin calling.” Last week the topic was the American welfare
system, and when a phone went off, Lanz replied: “that must be the
welfare office calling.”
But an African-American student, Angela Bogni, confronted Lanz after
the class accusing him of racism by directing the comment to her. Lanz
told her that he did not know where the phone was and was just joking as
he always does when there is an interruption from a phone. Students in
the class confirmed his account. One commented: “He didn’t direct that
comment at you. We were talking about welfare and your phone went off
and he made a comment (like he does every time someone’s phone goes
off).”
Ms Bogni recorded a video of her conversation with Lanz.
He explained he did not direct the comment to her and did not know
where the phone was. It was simply a throw away joke. In the video she
seems to accept his account. But then tweeted that, “Today was my first
experience with head‑on racism at this institution.”
Harris Pastides, president of the University, apologized to the
student: “I’m sorry for what you experienced today and deeply troubled
by comments that perpetuate racist stereotypes. This is not
representative of UofSC. We stand with you.” It is not yet decided what
punishment is in store for Lanz. But for what did the president
apologize? Lanz had done nothing wrong. His comment did not “perpetuate
racist stereotypes” except in the mind of the student.
The article on the affair in
The State, March 30, 2018, was
titled “USC Instructor Accused of Racist Comment also Defended
Displaying Confederate Symbols.” The article discovered that Lanz had
given a lecture at an Abbeville Institute Summer School in 2006 on “The
Agrarianism of Wendell Berry.” Wendell Berry is a Southern poet,
agrarian advocate, and critic of industrial capitalism who is admired
around the world, mostly by progressive leaning environmentalists. This
agrarian criticism of the dark side of industrial capitalism has from
the time of Thomas Jefferson been a central theme of the Southern
tradition. Indeed, Eugene Genovese (a Northerner and Marxist), described
by the
Atlantic Monthly as America’s greatest living
historian, said that the South has developed the best critique of the
dark side of liberalism. Lanz discussed Wendell Berry in relation to the
Southern tradition. He had some kind words to say about the Confederacy
and Robert E. Lee and the culture that produced him, and had no problem
with displaying the Confederate flag as a symbol of that culture,
positions that until recently were widely held by Americans North and
South.
This along with the accusation of a racial slur was enough to present
a presumptive picture of Lanz as a “racist,” a term that has no
objective moral or empirical meaning but has become a slur used by
people to bully and manipulate their opponents. And that is what is
happening in this affair. Lanz has been vilified by the president’s
misplaced apology, and
The State apparently thinks it
sufficient to suggest a person is a racist because he has given a
lecture at the Abbeville Institute, an organization in higher education
devoted to a critical study of what is valuable in the Southern
tradition. It would seem that leftists should be lining up to praise
Lanz for his steadfast critique of industrial capitalism, but such is
not the case.
One should not be hard on the student. She is a product of an
education that is obsessed to the point of hallucination with the topic
of race and gender. The current academy is saturated with “white
studies” programs designed to find examples of “white supremacy”
everywhere—even if it doesn’t exist—and to gain victim status by doing
so. President Pastides should know this is anti-intellectual,
anti-academic, and the antithesis of a true “liberal arts” education and
the free exchange of ideas.
