Coastal Carolina U. Tells Prof He Can’t Teach Classes After Offending Snowflakes

Coastal Carolina University has told a drama professor that he is no longer allowed to teach after telling students that “people get their feelings hurt too easily” in response to the students taking offense to a mundane misunderstanding on campus.

Professor Steve Earnest, who worked at Coastal Carolina for 16 years, was told that he is no longer allowed to teach after students took offense to an email in which he said that a minor misunderstanding “is not a big deal,” adding, “I’m just sad people get their feelings hurt so easily,” according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.

The incident started after a black theater student at Coastal Carolina told a visiting drama teacher that she wanted to connect with nonwhite students, so the teacher created a list of names on a whiteboard, but forgot to erase it when they left the studio.

Later, other students walked into the room to find the list of names and believed the list was created with racist intent. After a committee of professors investigated the matter, a departmentwide email was sent to clarify what had happened. The visiting teacher also apologized for drawing up the list.

Then, Earnest replied to the email chain, writing, “Sorry but I don’t think it’s a big deal.”

“I’m just sad people get their feelings hurt so easily. And they are going into Theatre?” the professor added.

Within minutes, the professor’s iPad lit up with messages, mostly from black theater majors, reports Los Angeles Times.

“Thinking like that is part of the problem,” Kelis Herriott, a 21-year-old senior, wrote. “This department is a joke.”

“Grow up. Full Offense,” wrote 23-year-old senior Jihad Levermore, who went on to accuse Earnest of “chalk[ing] up” the matter “to sensitivity.”

Earnest reportedly replied to the outraged students, writing, “Thanks for all of your hate mails!” adding, “Deleting this chain.”

Under pressure from students, administrators had to decide whether Earnest should be disciplined for violating students’ new and bizarre norms. Administrators reportedly suggested Earnest take an early retirement, but the professor worried that would send the wrong message.

“It proves to students that you can’t speak out — if you think something, you can’t say it,” Earnest said. “At some point someone has to stand up and say ‘no.'”

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) — an organization defending speech and due process on college campuses — later took up his case.

“I thought I’d seen everything, but my head is still spinning from this case,” said Ronnie London, FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund vice president in a press release.

“A professor stands to lose his job for not being sufficiently mad about something that wasn’t meant to cause anger in the first place,” London added. “Coastal Carolina’s response is not only overly dramatic, but also unconstitutional.”

Last month, Earnest filed a formal grievance with the dean of the college claiming his rights to free speech, due process, and academic freedom had been trampled, reports the Times.

The professor later received a letter from the university saying the school was still trying to determine whether his emails “endangered the welfare of students” or violated the code of ethical conduct requiring employees to “create a respectful environment” and “nurture a climate of fairness and civility toward others — even in the face of disagreement.”

Days later, more than two months since he had taught a class, the university informed him that the emails didn’t warrant disciplinary action “at this time.”

Less than 24 hours after Earnest had sent his email that outraged students, the professor added, “I sincerely apologize for my statements that caused hurt. I do have something of an empathy issue that I could improve on. My own children will attest to the fact that I have ingrained in me the old ‘just suck it up and move on’ mentality.”

But his apology fell flat, and Herriott gathered students to organize a boycott.

Herriott also noted that she took offense to Earnest advising her this fall to audition for outdoor Shakespeare theater companies that were seeking diversity, and “definitely casting people like you.”

“I should have control over my education to remove toxic people, regardless of freedom of speech, or whatever,” Herriott proclaimed. “Hate speech is hate speech.”

The following Monday, students reportedly dressed in black and skipped classes in protest. Messages stating, “Fire the racist,” “TIME TO RESIGN,” and “Black Actors Matter” were also pinned on doors and noticeboards across the humanities and arts building.

Soon after that, local TV crews reportedly descended on the campus, and by the end of the day, the dean ordered Earnest not to come to classes. The professor said that no administrator told him what rule or policy he had broken.

“I’m not sure how I can defend myself, when I don’t even know what I’m accused of doing,” Earnest said.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.