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The story of the Reed College student who claimed he was booted from Humanities 110 for his controversial views on rape lit up the Internet Thursday after BuzzFeed News first reported student Jeremiah True's account.
National Review and The Daily Caller, two conservative outlets, ran with the story as evidence of political correctness run amok. "A student at Reed College in Portland claims he was banned from class discussions mainly because he questioned a rape 'statistic' — even though that 'statistic' has been debunked — just because other students said they were uncomfortable," is how the National Review summed it up.
But in exchanges with reporters for Reason magazine and Inside Higher Ed for follow-up stories posted late Thursday and Friday, True revealed a component of the story that wasn't evident when it broke: The student, a freshman, appears unwell.
Reason and Inside Higher Ed both report True made a demand before he would agree to be interviewed.
True's professor, Pancho Savery, told the author of the Reason piece that True wasn't banned for his controversial views. Rather, he was banned "for a series of disruptive behaviors."
"I also reached True via email, and asked him whether he had been rowdy or disruptive in class," Reason reports. "He responded by making a bizarre request. This was his email back to me: 'Before I interview with you, you must agree to make 'nigger' be the first word in your article.' I declined this ultimatum, and he declined to answer my questions."
Inside Higher Ed offers a similar account. "True declined to be interviewed Thursday," the website reports. "When contacted via e-mail, he responded that he would only answer questions if the first word in the article was 'nigger.' Inside Higher Ed refused to make such a commitment, and he then declined to talk."
Reed's student newspaper, The Quest, adds to the picture.
True launched a petition on change.org asking that he be returned to class.
He ends his petition with what the student newspaper calls a "haunting" message. He writes:
"I love you, mom. I love you, dad I love you my dear, dear sisters. I love you my dearest friends. I love you all, and I will sacrifice everything for you. I am so sorry that I have kept you at a distance while this has happened. I want to keep you safe. I need to keep you safe. I do not know where my life will go from here. I do not think I will make it out of this unscathed and I am sitting here writing this, sobbing uncontrollably. In spite of all the pain that we have experienced, my family still tries to show they care, however possible. I have hurt them in this time of crisis, and that weighs upon me. I know that, despite our distance and our differences, I love my family and they love me. I do not want to be a martyr, but I will do that if that is what is necessary to make a statement."
A spokesman for Reed, Kevin Myers, says True wasn't banned for the content of his speech but for the context. True, Myers says, disrupted class by steering it off topic, including to his thoughts on "rape culture."
"We continue to be concerned by his actions and we're looking for a resolution that's best for everybody," Myers says.
WWeek 2015