On Friday, students at UCLA rallied to the defense of part-time conservative lecturer Keith Fink, who could be forced out of his position at the university due to his political beliefs.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News, 25 people attended the rally, with some holding signs that read, “Keep your agenda out of our classroom” and “Free Speech is under attack.” Fink’s supporters demanded that the dean of Social Sciences, Laura Gomez, ensure that Fink keeps his job and that the school’s curriculum include “intellectual diversity.”
“This is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, and it’s not a marketplace of ideas if they’re trying to get rid of somebody with a contradictory viewpoint,” said Fink’s former student Mick Mathis.
UCLA alumnus, Cynthia Truhan, said that she was “highly disturbed” by the university’s handling of Fink, which is reflective “of what is happening across the nation, which I feel is a silencing of free speech of any divergent opinion that varies from the base of that particular university.”
The Daily News reached out to UCLA about Fink and received this response:
“The content of his courses has never been curtailed, and as a lecturer, Mr. Fink is protected by a collective bargaining agreement between UCLA and the American Federation of Teachers, the union to which he belongs as a lecturer. UCLA’s process for reviewing instructors is comprehensive and fair, as well as respectful of the privacy normally accorded to personnel procedures. His current review is in-progress, and he has been afforded the full due process considerations mandated by the collective bargaining agreement and that every lecturer undergoing this review receives,” said the statement sent by UCLA spokeswoman Rebecca Kendall.
It’s not just students and alumni supporting Fink. Scott Snapp, who chairs the local Republican Party in the west side Los Angeles area and sat in on one of Fink’s classes, told The Daily Wire that the party is reaching out to various media outlets to ensure that Fink’s story is heard.
“This is a good man, a man of integrity and I think he makes his students think,” Snapp said. “He challenges them on both sides.”
The Daily Wire has been covering Fink’s situation extensively, starting with the Communication Department’s attempts to block students from taking his classes. Fink is currently undergoing an Excellence Review, in which the university decides if he meets their standards of “excellence,” and has been railroaded by the administration, as The Daily Wire has documented here. The vote among a panel of faculty members was deadlocked, putting Fink’s future at the university in the hands of Gomez, who appears to be biased against Fink.
One thing is clear: If Gomez decides not to retain Fink, then many UCLA students and alumni will be displeased that a teacher who receives high marks from students for his ability to make them think and presents information in a compelling way was axed due to his political views.
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