Education

Dartmouth professor: MLK Day is a far-right imperialist holiday

Robby Soave Reporter
Font Size:

For most people, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message was about tolerance and inclusion for all. But for radical activists at Dartmouth College, MLK Day is an excuse to protest “far-right imperialism” and discriminate against conservatives and independents.

Last week, two non-liberal Dartmouth students were barred from attending a meeting held by campus activists for the purpose of organizing public MLK Day activities. They were denied entrance by a female student, who first asked them to state their political affiliation, according to The College Fix.

The students are contributors to The Dartmouth Review — the campus’s independent, conservative student newspaper — and described themselves as independents. This was enough to get them banned from the meeting.

“We said we wanted to just listen in,” said Sandor Farkas, one of the conservative students, in an interview with The College Fix.

The meeting was held by a group of leftist campus activists, who are led by Russell Rickford, an assistant professor of history at Dartmouth, according to Farkas.

Rickford attended the strategy session, and entered the building as the Farkas and his colleague were turned away, according to The Dartmouth Review.

Farkas met with Rickford recently, and said the professor holds the view that MLK Day is “a tool of the far-right imperialists to appease people.” He said it should be a day of protest.

Rickford’s group of activists was responsible for crashing a welcome event for new students last spring, forcing administrators to give in to the group’s demands, which included canceling classes for a day so that liberal students could articulate their numerous grievances. (RELATED: Dartmouth cancels classes after leftists crash recruiting event with litany of absurd complaints)

In an article titled, “Dissenters Not Welcome Here,” Farkas explained that while he sympathizes with the notion that campus groups deserve privacy and should be permitted to hold closed meetings, it seemed bizarre to exclude, on the basis of ideology, non-disruptive students from the meetings of an unofficial group lacking a formal list of members.

“If said group does have a member’s list, the college would surely disapprove of this group restricting membership based on private beliefs, especially if those excluded do not wish to cause any disruption whatsoever,” wrote Farkas.

Rickford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Follow Robby on Twitter