GMU Student Gov’t Officer Removed for Using Term “Illegals”
Where is the Tolerance of Diverse Thought? Lost to Political Correctness
The following was written by Storm Paglia, a student at George Mason University. He is the current General Manager of WGMU Radio and the former President of Sigma Alpha Epsilon at GMU.
Yes, I called illegal immigrants “illegals” in a tweet. Yes, I was removed from George Mason University Student Government for using that word in a tweet. No, I do not find the term offensive, and I did not mean any offense by it. My tweets, aimed toward the state legislature in Virginia, were an expression of free speech petitioning my government officials. Unfortunately, the George Mason University Student Government found it so politically incorrect that I was forcibly removed from my position as executive undersecretary of university services for dining services. The comments I made were not racist, profane, malicious, or meant to be offensive. What I do find offensive is that as an out-of-state student, I pay higher tuition than a student who came to Virginia illegally. Under Attorney General Mark Herring’s unilateral decision, many illegals can now qualify for in-state tuition. I came from New Jersey legally to go to school here in Virginia, yet someone who came here from another country gets special treatment.
Whenever I make comments about politics like this, I make clear that am tweeting my personal opinion on my personal twitter account, and not representing the collective opinion of Student Government or any of the other organizations. The issue I was politically commenting on had nothing to do with my role working with dining services. I faithfully carried out all my duties within Student Government at all times to improve dining for the campus community. Shouldn’t that be the measure of judgment rather than my political expressions?
Whether you agree with my tweets or not, free speech is what is beautiful about our great country. We are all entitled to disagree with each other; it is a vital part of a democratic republic. The university setting is supposed to be a venue for the free exchange of ideas, regardless of belief. At a university with thousands of unique voices, shouldn’t they all be heard, and not simply the most popular? In their statement on my removal, the Student Government said, “Student Government has always, and will continue to, embrace the diversity of thought and opinion within our organization and within our university.”
Yet, in the next sentence, they say my remarks “will not be tolerated.” Apparently, they don’t see the irony. They are embracing my diversity of thought with intolerance—simply for the sake of political correctness.
New and innovative ideas emerge when different points of view come together, but for that to happen there needs to be a mutual level of civility in the dialogue and a representation of all opinions on campus. We need more people standing up for free speech, diversity of thought and opinion, and inclusion.
While I am disappointed about being removed from my position in Student Government, and the manner in which it was done, I am optimistic this will start a productive conversation about some of the more hypocritical politically correct policies at George Mason University. I hope to have meetings with University administration to work towards stronger free speech and inclusion policies so other campus leaders won’t have to worry about the threat of removal from a student organization at a public university because of their personal opinions and comments on local government.