BY WBCR NEWS SPOTLIGHT TEAM
This story was breaking news as of 1:45 p.m. on October 4, 2018. It was reported by Estafania Barron, Samantha Castro, Marie Fiero, Jaden Glasford, Danielle Kogan, Joe Leo, Xavier Rubira, and Austin Santiago. The story was written by Joe Leo, Danielle Kogan, and Xavier Rubira. Contact the team via email at wbcr.nd@gmail.com.
UPDATE: As of 3:21 p.m., BC President Michelle Anderson released a statement confirming she would facilitate a “campus speak out and an interdisciplinary teach-in” at a later time. As of 3:45 p.m., this story was updated to include a statement in a PSC press release.
“I’m in the process of finding a lawyer,” said tenured Brooklyn College business professor Michael Langbert in an interview for WBCR News on Thursday morning.
Langbert wrote an inflammatory blog post related to the Kavanaugh case last Thursday that originally opened with, “if someone did not commit sexual assault in high school, then he is not a member of the male sex.” The message gained traction in a Facebook group before Langbert edited the post to clarify it was satirical on Wednesday morning. In response, students organized what was officially a protest that consisted of seven campus clubs as of 12:00 p.m.
Chief among the participants was student government (CLAS) President Eytan Galanter, who told WBCR that President Anderson said she would strongly consider releasing a statement condemning Langbert’s words in a statement after a 10 a.m. meeting. Galanter said he was told by Anderson that dismissing Langbert from campus may be difficult given existing union laws in New York. He was informed at the meeting that students could, at most, demand an investigation.
“These students are much like the brown shirts of Nazi Germany. You’re talking about people who are angry about a few sentences written cavalierly late at night,” said Langbert. When asked why he refrained from originally clarifying the post was in reference to the Kavanaugh case Langbert said, “I didn’t realize people wouldn’t get that it wasn’t meant to be taken literally.”
Provost and the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Anne Lopes sent out a notice to the Brooklyn College community addressing the post as “gender-biased” and “homophobic”. Lopes goes on to say that even speech that is believed to be “abhorrent” is protected by the first amendment.
In response to the Provost’s comment, Langbert said, “It’s really sad that someone in higher education can’t debate without calling somebody names. They don’t like the idea that I’m a conservative. They don’t agree with quasi-socialistic views.”
He said the accusation that he was homophobic the latest in a slew of responses to people disliking his conservative opinions on campus. Prior to this blog post, he said he had been accused of being a racist by a female student who claimed she taped him but never came forward with evidence. He previously defended himself from defamatory comments on campus while part of a committee with other faculty members.
The Thursday afternoon protest began at 1 p.m. Approximately 100 protestors marched from the front of the library past the Whitehead building and toward the Performing Arts Center, according to treasurer Amanda Godsil of the Young Progressives of America (YPA). The protest demanded the following actions be taken by the administration by Monday:
- A full investigation of Professor Mitchell Langbert during his tenure.
- Immediate termination of Professor Mitchell Langbert following the investigation.
- Two public statements to be released by the end of the day on Monday. One from President Anderson and the other from the business department.
- A mandatory in-person sexual assault training for all BC faculty.
- The opportunity for all students enrolled in his courses to drop or swap out of his classes without financial or academic penalty.
- The facilitation of a campus forum by Michelle Anderson to address the threat of sexual assault on campus.
Although organized by the Young Progressives of America, participants included the Brooklyn College Socialists, the LGBTQ community, and the Women of Color at Brooklyn College.
The phrase #FireProfessorLangbert was part of the title on the Facebook page created by the YPA. Protesters were chanting: “Are you with us or with him Michelle Anderson?”
Thus far, the college’s response includes Lopes’ goal to host a forum to address the BC community. Lopes started an anonymous webpage for the community to voice their concerns as of Wednesday morning. Concerns were raised by Galanter about the lack of transparency about the comments on the webpage.
“I don’t think they’ve done enough. I’m sure if there was a member of the KKK, they’d be fired. I want to be told exactly where the line is with free speech,” said Galanter in a Wednesday interview. Galanter released a statement on behalf of the executive branch of the student government on Tuesday night condemning the message.
Since the original post was found, Langbert said he has received many anonymous or semi-anonymous threatening emails and approximately ten emails sympathizing with his current experience. The Young Republicans of America (YRA) is the only club thus far that publicly stepped forward in support of Langbert’s right to freedom of speech.
“Let’s say he actually did say this, like as a serious note, like he actually did mean if you’re in high school and you never raped, should he really be fired for that?” said junior YRA club member Christian Cozlov.
“Of course I was trying to be inflammatory,” Langbert said. Overall, the response of the student body is what he called the “continually escalating oppression of thought and language by the American political left and their increasing authoritarianism.”
“The real question is why there is such a high degree of intolerance. Apparently, there’s an eagerness to accuse people of things,” said Langbert, “The real intent is not concern about violence, because I’ve been getting emails threatening violence.”
The emails come from people threatening to kick in Langbert’s teeth and shove glass Coca-Cola bottles up his rear end. One of the emails Langbert shared with WBCR encourage him to commit suicide.
“I was not aware of this recent Facebook post,” Chairperson of the Business Management Department Hervé Queneau told WBCR, “I find Professor Langbert’s post offensive and disturbing. I obviously condemn any language that advocates sexual assault. Such language completely goes against the fundamental values of the Brooklyn College community.”
When asked if students had been calling the heads of the business department, Bassell took a deep breath and declined to comment further.
At the moment, Langbert teaches an introductory business course and a human resources course at Brooklyn College.
All efforts by the spotlight team at WBCR to reach out to the CUNY organizations involved with reporting sexual assault and cases relevant to Title IX on campus were redirected to the office of the Provost and the Communications Department at Brooklyn College for further comment. No further information was made available to WBCR News by deadline.
PSC-CUNY, the organization which represents the professors at Brooklyn College released a press release following the protest that said, “his remarks…are the antithesis of what colleges—and unions—represent. Nevertheless, the PSC vigorously opposes calls for immediate dismissal of Professor Langbert, repugnant as his comments are.”