Vanderbilt University is — again — having to defend the comments of one of its most outspoken professors. This time, Carol Swain came out against the Black Lives Matter movement on CNN.
Dr. Swain, who teaches undergraduates and in the Vanderbilt law school, is African-American and a regular on cable news shows. She says the videos of last week’s shootings of black men by police “don’t tell the entire story.” She calls the Black Lives Matter movement a “destructive force” in the United States.
“It’s a Marxist organization all about Black liberation. It’s not really addressing the real problems affecting African-Americans,” Swain said on CNN.
Swain says the movement is misleading black people.
Vanderbilt released a
formal statement about Swain this week and assembled a campus gathering in response.
The university says her views in no way reflect those of the school.
Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos says although he disagrees with Swain, the campus has a clear principle of free speech.
“It is frustrating when that happens, but we have to address it by speaking out and saying, ‘We will not tolerate racism, inequality, injustice,'” Zeppos said.
Zeppos acknowledges that Swain has been notoriously controversial. Last fall, students created a
petition to remove her from the school after she wrote in the
Tennessean that
America should monitor Muslims to protect its safety
.
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