Two Arizona State University (ASU) professors sent “harassing emails” with requests for inclusion in the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Professor Watchlist after signing a letter labeling Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk “purveyors of hate” and seeking to prevent their February 2023 appearance at the T.W. Lewis Center, according to its former executive director.
Former T.W. Lewis Center executive director Ann Atkinson provided emails to The Arizona Sun Times sent by two ASU professors who teach at Barrett, the university’s honors College where the center was housed, showing the professors lobby for inclusion into the Professors Watchlist. The Faculty Chair of Barrett, the Honors College where the center was housed, was included in one email.
Atkinson’s role at the university was terminated when the T.W. Lewis Center abruptly closed after Arizona businessman Tom Lewis, who founded and funded the center, pulled $400,000 in annual funding after witnessing the treatment of Kirk, Prager, and Atkinson. She discussed alleged harassment and abuse from ASU faculty, particularly the 37 of 47 Barrett faculty who signed the petition, and inaction from university deans, during a joint hearing in the Arizona Legislature that examined alleged restrictions on freedom of expression in the state’s public institutions.
Speaking to The Sun Times, Atkinson (pictured above) said “some of the harassment emails I received from faculty” using their ASU email addresses “included harassing emails requesting to be added to the Turning Point Professor Watchlist.” The Professor Watchlist maintains the names of professors TPUSA say they believe “discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.”
The former executive director provided such emails to the Arizona Legislature. Two emails Atkinson sent to The Sun Times were authored by ASU professor Dr. Mike Stanford, who repeatedly asked for Atkinson’s help to gain “glory” from being named on the Professor Watchlist.
“I even filed a ‘tip’ about myself on the website,” the ASU professor wrote on February 15. “I respectfully ask that you direct your minions to add me to the Watchlist.”
In another email sent by Stanford to Atkinson on February 16, published for the first time by The Sun Times, the professor imagined himself as part of a “potentially hilarious article in the future” for his efforts to be added to the Professor Watchlist. Included in the email was Jenny Brian, the Barrett faculty chair, who Atkinson confirmed is “the senior most faculty at Barrett.”
“She did nothing to stop this type of behavior,” Atkinson told The Sun Times. “It appears the faculty who initiated this particular harassing email thought Jenny Brian would enjoy it, so they copied her on its delivery.”
Atkinson added, “Ironically, Jenny is also the ASU coach for the Regent’s Cup,” which is described as “a celebration of free speech, civil discourse, and democratic engagement at Arizona’s public universities” that holds “rigorous debate anchored by respect and civil discourse.”
A third email was apparently sent on Stanford’s behalf by ASU professor Michael Ostling, a professor at Barrett College who specializes in witchcraft. Ostling identified himself as responsible for maintaining the list of signatories for the letter targeting Prager and Kirk in his February 15 message to Atkinson.
“In this capacity, it is my pleasure to assure you that Dr. Stanford did indeed sign this letter,” Ostling wrote to Atkinson. “It is thus only fair that he should be honored, along with his colleagues, as a Professor in need of Watching.”
Atkinson told The Sun Times that Stanford’s requests came despite claims that such inclusion “resulted in faculty receiving threats.” She questioned, “If that was true, then why would they make such efforts to be added?”
ASU faculty Brian, Ostling, and Alex Trimble Young recently authored an opinion article for The Arizona Republic claiming faculty received “multiple violent threats” after signing the letter, and specifically claiming “intense vitriol was directed toward Jewish and queer signatories.” They asserted that the Professor Watchlist “disproportionately targets faculty of color” who are “often subject to years of threats and intimidation by Turing [sic] Point USA’s followers.”
More recently, ASU theology professor and Phoenix pastor Dr. Owen Anderson claimed Christian, Jewish, and conservative faculty and students faced harassment and intimidation at the university.
The Sun Times confirmed that Stanford was still not listed on the Professor Watchlist by press time, more than five months after his request. However, Brian, Ostling, and Young are all included.
The July 18 hearing in the Arizona Legislature ended with State Senator Anthony Kern (R-Glendale) requesting ASU investigate restriction of freedom of speech on its campus internally, and provide a list of corrective actions to the legislature in 60 days.
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Tom Pappert is a reporter for The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Tom on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Arizona State University Campus” by Beyond My Ken. CC BY 2.0.
