Dr. Briant, In answer to your question, Dr. Vatz and I sent a post to CRTNET stating if the libelous labeling of us as racists did not stop, we would be forced to explore legal options. At that point, NCA decided to take the action that it did. To provide a bit more context, Dr. Vatz often posted to CRTNET, and, at first, other folks on CRTNET would disagree with him. Later, the disagreements resulted in personal attacks against Dr. Vatz, at which point I stepped in to both decry the attacks on his character as well as to defend his right to post his views. When the attacks on the both of us descended to calling us racists, we decided to take the action we did. Rod On Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 6:11 PM Dr. Emma Briant <teflpolsoc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Rod, Just to clarify the below please… Are you saying you sent a legal threat to NCA over this and as a result they stopped discussion of issues on the listserv? Thank you, Emma
On Thu, 17 Nov 2022 at 17:54, Rod Carveth via Air-L < air-l@listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
I had indicated that I was going to stay out of any further comments related to my observation that I doubted U of Arkansas was going to be attracting top candidates given the election of the seriously unqualified Trumpster, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as governor, and the educational policies that she advocates.
But, I do have to respond to Daniel Greene's post today, particularly this passage:
*Dr. Carveth was previously involved in a similar debate on the National Communication Association's list serv, regarding the rights of faculty to opine on "the illegal immigrant threat and the history of illegals [sic] murder and rapes, and threatened to sue < https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/26/national-communication-associ... < https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/09/26/national-communication-associ...
anyone accusing him or colleagues of racism. *
First of all, what I said on this list has absolutely nothing to do with the incident involving the CRTNET listserv.
Second, Greene has conflated facts regarding that incident.
My friend and colleague, Dr. Richard Vatz (Towson University) made a comment on the CRTNET listserv about how media coverage failed to include sufficient news coverage about "illegals." For this, Dr. Vatz was attacked for being a racist on both the CRTNET listserv and on a Facebook group called Communication Scholars for Transformation (CST).
Dr. Vatz and I differ on many political issues, as he is conservative and I am liberal. But, over the years, I know that he is a principled conservative (unlike many in the GOP). I also believe in the First Amendment -- which NCA purports to be as well -- and called out the ad hominem attacks against Dr. Vatz as a way of muzzling his speech. For that, people on both CRTNET and CST labelled me a racist as well. Teaching at an HBCU and having members of your field calling you a racist is an awkward situation at best.
Around that time, I had a conversation with a friend who is a First Amendment lawyer, and among the topics to come up was this issue with CRTNET and CST. The friend said one of the things I could do would take legal action. The friend said that it would be a long shot, but sometimes the threat is just as effective. My friend was correct. Dr. Vatz and I posted on CRTNET that if the false charges of racism did not stop, we would seek legal action. NCA at that point stopped having CRTNET have discussions about issues. Rather, CRTNET now carries announcements about conferences and research opportunities, jobs and obituaries.
I hope this clarifies Greene's passage that not only erroneously tries to equate the two events, but also provides important context.
Rod Carveth _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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-- Dr Emma L Briant
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Author of: *Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change *from Manchester University Press Co-Author of: *Bad News for Refugees* with Prof. Greg Philo and Dr. Pauline Donald from Pluto Press. Sign up for my Newsletter <http://emma-briant.co.uk/sign-up-for-important-updates/>! Follow me on Twitter @emmalbriant
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