Leftist bullying has its latest poster-child in Georgetown professor Christine Fair. Fair decided that an op-ed written by Asra Nomani explaining why she voted for Donald Trump was grounds to relentlessly attack Nomani, a former colleague of Fair’s, on social media — not just calling her names and impugning her character, but even calling into question her religion and status as a human being.
Nomani, a woman and a liberal Muslim, wrote that despite holding many beliefs in common with the Democratic party she had decided to vote for Trump because she was dissatisfied with Hillary Clinton’s position on health-care and worried about the Clintons’ ties to Islamic regimes, such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Katie Frates at the Daily Caller has compiled Fair’s most vicious attacks on different social media, which include such gems as: “I’ve written you off as a human being. Your vote helped normalize Nazis in DC. What don’t you understand you clueless dolt?” and “You are a fame-mongering clown show. You voted 4 a hateful bigot.” Fair even disputed that Nomani was a Muslim, saying that Nomani had confessed to being an atheist in a private conversation (Nomani says she is a Muslim and not an atheist).
A long Facebook post by Fair illustrates the contradiction at the heart of her vendetta against Nomani. Repeating obscene insults she’d previously directed at Nomani, such as “f*** you” and “go to hell,” Fair accused Nomani of “cyber bullying” because she had the audacity to complain to Georgetown about Fair. But what is cyber bullying if not impugning someone’s character and religion in an attempt to harm her image and career, which is exactly what Fair has been doing in an unprovoked online crusade against Nomani?
Of course, Fair would not say her screeds were “unprovoked” because the mere fact of supporting Donald Trump is a provocation to militant progressives who think teaching at Georgetown gives them the power to peer into the minds and souls of others.
Now, Georgetown has every right to allow professors to spout whatever opinions they have, but Nomani argues that Fair’s attack runs afoul of Georgetown’s faculty handbook guidelines on the obligation of faculty to perform “service” that advances the “public welfare.” Nomani makes the case that Fair’s public attack on her, and by extension on the principles of civil discourse, constitutes the opposite of a public service.
Whether or not Nomani’s case has merit — and there’s an argument to be made that such speech as Fair’s should fall outside the university’s purview — does anyone in his right mind think that a professor saying similar things about a Muslim who voted for Hillary Clinton would face no professional repercussions?