Vermont's Middlebury College has disciplined 67 of 100 or so students who disrupted a March lecture by Charles Murray, a conservative author and American Enterprise Institute scholar, but none of the students were suspended or expelled. The punishments range "from probation to official college discipline," Middlebury said in a statement on Tuesday, with the last action — meted out to 10 or fewer students — leaving a mark on the students' permanent academic records. The Middlebury Police also said it won't bring any charges in the incident, which left faculty member Allison Stanger injured.
"The sanctions are a farce," Murray said Wednesday. "They will not deter anyone. They're a statement to students that if you shut down a lecture, nothing will happen to you." Middlebury spokesman Bill Burger disagreed, saying 20 of the students are appealing the punishments. "What I can tell you is that the students who received them don't think they're meaningless," he said.
In the March incident, a group of 100 to 150 protesters shouted that Murray was racist and sexist, referring to his 1994 book The Bell Curve. When he left the stage and moved to another room for a live-streamed Q&A session, students pulled the fire alarm. A group of protesters, some wearing masks and maybe not all students, accosted Murray and Stanger when they left the building for a car, and Stanger was treated for a concussion after someone pulled her hair. Police said they did not have enough evidence to press charges, in part because they couldn't identify the assailants.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
-
The week’s best photojournalismIn Pictures A steaming volcano, a giant crater and more
-
Texas and Yelp are suing each other over crisis pregnancy centers
Talking Point A battle over free speech and abortion rights heads to court
-
Dianne Feinstein, history-making Democratic US senator, dies at 90
The Explainer Her colleagues celebrate her legacy as a trailblazer who cleared the path for other women to follow
-
America's hazing problem and why nothing seems to change
In Depth Northwestern University is the latest school to deal with hazing fallout
-
Biden administration to forgive $39B in student loan debt for 800K borrowers
Speed Read
-
Advocacy groups challenge Harvard's legacy admissions policy
Speed Read
-
2 Michigan school districts ban backpacks after confiscating 4th gun this year
Speed Read
-
Education Department to limit bans on transgender student athletes but allow exceptions
Speed Read
-
UAE becomes 1st Middle Eastern country to mandate Holocaust education in schools
Speed Read
-
College admissions scandal mastermind sentenced to 3.5 years in prison
Speed Read
-
U.S. News & World Report responds to boycott with new criteria for rankings
Speed Read
