I’m not a fan of the #CampusReform website or tactics AT ALL. That being said, I was glad to see they posted two letters that Dr. Neal-Boylan sent to university administrators after she was fired. Here’s why:

1/ https://twitter.com/umasslowell/status/1278777034379005953

Reading those letters gave me a sense of the complex political issues at play - issues having nothing to do with the statement she issued.

2/

I would *never* advocate for or support a dean being fired for issuing the statement she did. “Cancel culture” is toxic.

3/

I don’t know why the Dean was fired. Reading the letters she shared with Campus Reform, it sounds like she doesn’t either.

4/

What her letters *do* show is a lack of awareness about racism. She mentions that her daughter is Korean in a paragraph explaining that she’s not racist. <face palm>

5/

I’ve read WAY too many tweets over the past 24 hours from people praising her good intentions in the same breath they say racist, hateful things about those who took issue with her statement.

6/

I don’t know Dr. Neal-Boylan.

I don’t know why she was fired.

What I *do* know is that many of the people rallying behind her on Twitter are targeting their harassment toward a student for tweeting about the dean’s statement. And that isn’t OK.

7/

That student was called a “sociopath,” “mentally ill,” “hateful,” “psychotic,” and “dangerous” because of their tweet - and those are just the insults lobbed at them in ONE of the many tweets targeting them yesterday.

8/

I hope @UMassLowell will support this student as they try to deal with the hate being directed toward them.

Twitter mobs can be pretty frightening. This student deserves the support of their institution.

9/

As for Dr. Neal-Boylan, I wish her only the best.

/end thread