Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey And the friends I met early in my journalism career were always people who never let even public disagreement effect friendship. I've always felt lucky in all this but never thought it was a rare exception. Curious about experience of others. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey I grew up in Orange County when it was conservative. I spent the entire WOT inveighing against civil liberties abuses & went all in on gay marriage when it was controversial, & never lost a friend from growing up, nor did I lose liberal friends from my right or libertarian views — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey Did both of you fear losing friends over something you said? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

And that's how the Meta story ends: in a highly exclusive virtual retirement home where Mark Zuckerberg and his former Harvard classmates rate the hotness of one another's couture-clad avatars. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@NSFWPoliticsNow Actually he has numerous legislative proposals he is involved in advancing. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@NSFWPoliticsNow Of course he is. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

Are college kids more anxious and unhappy today in part because increasingly aggressive *seeing like a risk-manager* administrators have reshaped campus life in inhuman ways? https://t.co/JO9nTcDAgG Curious if anyone has similar stories from other institutions. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@mkindc Yes. The moral grandstanding style is everywhere. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

I'm so sick and tired of the moral grandstanding style in activism where skilled outrage entrepreneurs ignite passions by constantly searching for the most inflammatory constructions possible. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @robbysoave: YouTube has taken down a January 6th committee hearing video for violating the election misinformation policy because it in… — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @MarcBodnick @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia No I don't because they mean different things among themselves, so how could I know? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @MarcBodnick @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia Critical race theorists themselves define it differently — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @MarcBodnick @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia Well for example, "keep controversies from blowing up" seems to be something DEI admins are incentivized to do at many different kinds of institutions, based on news reports and interviews and conversations with people who track free speech controversies — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @MarcBodnick @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia No I understand various things people mean by equity, they're just different enough that I never know what any particular use is intended to mean without digging in. Are you unaware of the multiple definitions in circulation? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@XBillups @ijbailey @IonaItalia @rasmansa I've formed the belief from seeing the frequency and breadth of the abuses; there may well be good things I'm unaware of, but those wouldn't excuse the abuses — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @MarcBodnick @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia I never know what any particular person actually means by equity without a longer conversation and neither do most of my readers, but I know what equality means and that I believe in it — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @MarcBodnick @rasmansa @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia I strongly applaud pursuing the goals of diversity, equality, and inclusion, but I also think the prevailing way it is done in the higher ed industry is systemically broken. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MarcBodnick @ijbailey @rasmansa @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia I've written about the dangers of both. How is that a "narrative"? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia So if I wanted to learn more about the n word case you mentioned the right person or office to contact would be... ? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia Who is the pro free speech DEI official at Davidson? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@XBillups @ijbailey @IonaItalia @rasmansa Ryan, what actual characterization have I offered that you find overly broad or inaccurate? Anything from anything I've written is fine. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rasmansa @ijbailey @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia I was thinking of college administrators but yes I do think Chloe does this work well in her outside consulting style business — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @IonaItalia I'd love to know this whole story, who is the administrator to reach out to? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia @rasmansa I too will sketch out what I mean more fully and share — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia @rasmansa I don't believe there is any need to "balance" diversity and free speech. I believe academic institutions should both be racially diverse and protect free speech and there is no tension in those two things. Diversity doesn't require speech policing. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @JamesSurowiecki @IonaItalia @rasmansa To date I have spent a lot of time on free speech, not DEI offices. I intend to cover those more fully in all their complexity, but meanwhile, can you point to *any* example of the sort of coverage you want to see? In your own work perhaps? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @IonaItalia @rasmansa Okay, wheels up, hope names are there in a few hours — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @IonaItalia @rasmansa You're right that I haven't been looking for success stories. I've been overwhelmed reading about and writing about abuses and rights violations, which have been my priority. Still eager for those names of the pro free speech faction in the DEI world? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @IonaItalia Okay! Who are they? Where are they? I'd love to interview them! DEI deans for free speech should be a model for the country! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @IonaItalia @rasmansa Unfortunately I haven't found a DEI dean who champions free speech yet but I would love to. Please let me know if you learn of any. — PolitiTweet.org