Student Austin Tong of Fordham University has been placed on probation by the school for an Instagram post to honor the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In the post, Tong posed with a legally-obtained rifle to symbolize the resistance of pro-democracy activists in China.
According to a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), Fordham University student Austin Tong has been placed on probation by his school over a photo he posted to Instagram to memorialize the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. In the post, Tong posed with a legally-obtained, unloaded rifle while observing proper firearm safety practices.
Prior to the Tiananmen Square post, Tong caught the attention of Fordham administrators when he shared a photo on Instagram of retired St. Louis police captain David Dorn, who was killed by looters during the protests that followed the death of George Floyd. “Y’all a bunch of hypocrites,” Tong wrote.
Fordham told Tong that he was being placed on probation in response to concerns about both Instagram posts. The university told Tong that he had violated policies on “bias and/or hate crimes” and “threats/intimidation.” As part of the probation, the university has barred Tong from campus and demanded that he attend bias training.
In a letter, FIRE told Fordham University that is was inappropriate to sanction Tong in response to speech that he made on social media.
“When Tong immigrated to the United States from China at six years old, his family sought to ensure that he would be protected by the rights guaranteed by their new home, including the freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” the letter read. “Here, however, Fordham has acted more like the Chinese government than an American university, placing severe sanctions on a student solely because of off-campus political speech.”
In a statement, Tong called Fordham’s sanctions “a total disgrace” and said that he will continue to fight for the rights of students to express themselves.
While what happened to me is a total disgrace, I hope to use my example as an opportunity for the millions of people out there that fear to freely speak, and to protest the serious case of speech censorship in college campuses. As the country is facing a disastrous constitutional crisis, it is no time to stay silent, and we have been silent for way too long. It only takes the courage of the few to spark the patriotism of many. We will use this opportunity to let the world know that now is the time that we must speak loudly, fight for our rights, and let those who silence speech know they will face consequences.
Breitbart News reported in March 2018 that Fordham officials had punished a campus coffee shop manager for kicking out pro-Trump students.
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