"Members of the university’s “Bias Response Team” – a group of professional staff within Student Life that focuses on the response and management of bias incidents involving students – gave a talk before the movie began, asking students in the audience to “give respect and expect respect.”
American Sniper showed after all the fuss at the University of Michigan. The room was packed. Police cars were outside to guard against.....something, but something didn't happen. Meanwhile, an alternative film called Paddington, about an animated teddy bear, drew seven people.
"Ah wunnerful, ah wunnerful, ah."
The College Fix has details.
http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/21995/
The Bias Response Team??
Here is the report of the event by the campus paper, the Daily Michigan:
Muslim and Middle Eastern students at the university are reporting receiving nasty messages through social media, and some say they don't feel safe on campus. If true, I condemn that, but I am yet unaware of Muslims students being assaulted on any US campus for their religion. (No, I am not forgetting the University of North Carolina murders, but at this point, we cannot say they were motivated out of hatred against Muslims.)
If I were to give advice to the Muslim students at UMich, I would say that trying to ban a film about someone like Chris Kyle, whom most Americans regard as a hero, is counter-productive and will offend many. Better to try and engage in an honest, respectful, but frank discussion for all sides.
But if showing this film is going to be met with organized protests and attempts to shut it down, then I say there should be an organized attempt to show it on every campus in the country, and let us engage with the forces of censorship.
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