The University of Georgia has invited Justice Clarence Thomas to give the commencement address this year, but some of the faculty members are all hot and bothered about it. It isn’t just the usual Thomas Derangement Syndrome, causing professors and students on the far left to get frantic over an appearance by a jurist they’ve been trained to regard as an ignorant “race traitor.” That’s probably the subtext, but the specific claim is that by inviting Thomas, the university is “sending a message” that “matters of sexual harassment and gender equity are trivial.” Inside Higher Ed has the story.
This is astoundingly foolish. The university has invited Justice Thomas because he’s a native Georgian who has done a lot to assist the university’s law school. The officials responsible for bringing Thomas to the campus undoubtedly weren’t snickering about how they were “sending a message” to the women’s studies department.
Just another excuse to parade around in the “I’m hurt and offended and you’d better take notice” robes that many professors so love.