San Diego State made national news in December, although not for any reason some may expect.
Doctor Monica J. Casper, a sociology professor and Dean of the College of Arts and Letters tweeted her opinion on Dec. 1 on what she called “the right’s agenda” and was called out by conservative students at SDSU in a statement released Dec. 26. The story even made its way to Fox News and other conservative news websites.
“Just so we’re clear on the Right’s agenda: racism good, abortion bad, money good, women bad, capitalism good, sustainability bad, stupidity good, science bad, power good, equality bad, white people good, nonwhite people bad. Stench, indeed,” her tweet read.
Casper received replies on Twitter from some individuals angered by the tweet but, more notably, SDSU’s College Republicans, the SDSU chapter of Turning Point USA and Students for Life at SDSU — an anti-abortion organization — posted a lengthy response to Dr. Casper, calling out her, “narrowmindedness and inability to participate in productive dialogue.”
The response letter references the university’s commitment to diversity, including across the political spectrum, and claims. Casper’s tweet is not a reflection of this commitment.
“Many members of our conservative-minded communities are pursuing their degrees within the College of Arts and Letters, of which Dr. Casper is the Dean,” the statement read. “If this is how she feels about conservative students, then her declared dedication to their success is marred by her highly partial and divisive statements pertaining to them, and therefore must be called into question.”
Kiara Mapp, president of Turning Point at SDSU, said she believes there is an on-campus bias against conservative students and their ideology.
“I’m not saying SDSU has it out for conservative students, it’s just their lack of being optimistic to our ideology and the way we are treated on campus by students and the way it’s just ignored is evidence of how biased it is against us,” she said.
The response letter was not calling for a harsh punishment of Casper from the university, but rather asked Casper to partake in productive conversations with conservative students.
“She has said she is committed to student success and is very optimistic and open to diversity and wants to make SDSU a place for all because she believes that education is for all,” Mapp said. “But when she’s making these statements against a certain group of people, that’s very inconsistent, and so we just want more consistency. If she wants to be blatantly against conservatism then she should say that in her faculty profile, or if she actually is committed to diversity, instead of making these blatant aggressive comments towards conservatives, she can just open the floor a little bit and maybe ask us questions instead.”
Joshua Rawson, president of the SDSU College Republicans said there have been incidents on campus in the past against conservative student organizations, like the defacing of one of Turning Point’s posters during a tabling for the club.
“It comes down to the school, where the hell is the school?” Rawson said. “Why are they not coming in and condemning this kind of thing and releasing these kinds of statements and saying, ‘look we’re not going to accept this kind of behavior on campus. We’re not going to allow these kinds of things to happen to our students, regardless of political affiliation’, regardless of what thoughts they have on different political issues.”
Rawson added his issue wasn’t with Casper’s disagreement to the conservative agenda but with the “derogatory language” and going after the individuals instead of the ideas.
President Adela de la Torre also released a statement following Casper’s tweet which read as follows,
“As we closed out 2021, a difficult year for many people, we know there are those who are hurt and unhappy about Twitter posts by SDSU Dean Monica Casper,” de la Torre’s statement said. “I will always stand by the right to free speech, but I do not condone or agree with what she said. I do not support actions that seek to divide us or undermine civic discourse for any reason.”
The statement continued by saying SDSU welcomes everyone.
“We benefit from learning from one another when we
participate in civic engagement across the spectrum of social and political discourse,
even when we disagree with one another, the statement continued. “This is what makes our university great.”
In response to The Daily Aztec’s request for comment from Dr. Casper, SDSU released a statement which read, in part, “We are acutely aware of the divisive nature of the social media comments, which do not reflect our institutional values or the supportive campus culture we have for students of all backgrounds and perspectives […] SDSU does not censor the speech of members of our community. Dr. Casper, in this respect, shared comments not in her capacity as an SDSU academic administrator, but through her personal social media account.”
