The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (Graham Piro) reports:
The controversy arose after the group distributed stickers reading "China Kinda Sus" on campus—stickers that the administration, after initially suspending the group, later conceded were intended to criticize China's government, not its people. Not that it would matter, as either criticism would still be protected under Emerson's firm promises to protect freedom of expression, which make no exception for speech others view as hateful. But the group's intent didn't stop the administration from jumping to publicly denounce TPUSA in September for "anti-Asian bigotry and hate," nor did it stop the administration from then placing a "Formal Warning" on the group's record, asserting that it had to do so because of the "pervasive environment of anti-Asian discrimination"—by other people.
It'd be a real shame if all of these public condemnations had an impact on the reputation of the group, thus chilling faculty or staff from being willing to work with them, huh?
Unsurprisingly, that is just what happened. Emerson has now removed the group's recognition as an official student organization, purportedly because the group cannot find a full-time faculty member to serve as an advisor after their previous advisor stepped away in the wake of the stickers controversy. This derecognition comes despite the group reaching out to more than 50 full-time faculty members and getting no interest in advising it. Multiple part-time faculty members have expressed interest—but they are not eligible to be advisors under Emerson's policies.
