Rantz: Evergreen State College paid $500K to stay a national embarrassment

The Evergreen State College has settled a lawsuit with a professor they mistreated.

The college paid him $500,000 for his troubles, but it was a payout meant to allow the college to continue down this path of irrelevancy and state embarrassment. In the process, they lost an ideologically like-minded professor who had the guts to stand up to the crazier on-campus elements.

Related: Anti-Trump activists vandalize ‘racist’ art at Evergreen State College

Professor Bret Weinstein, a Progressive, spoke out against a campus-wide movement to remove white people from campus, all in the name of speaking out against mistreating people based on their race. Because he spoke out against a group of rabid Progressives, he became a target. It was hard to find rational voices siding with the college’s reaction to this. Their president, George Bridges, cowered under the pressure of a few crazy students he helped create.

Weinstein sued. Weinstein settled. He and his wife, also a professor, received $500,000 late Friday. But they also resigned. This was likely a condition of the settlement because the college did little to protect them both, his hand was forced.

Let that sink in for a moment: the Progressive professor who dared to speak out against the extremist elements on campus will no longer teach there. That’s exactly what the extremist elements had hoped for. They wanted him to be fired or resign. They got their wish.

Related: Panic and dismay over criticism, propaganda at Evergreen College

Of course, the college admits no wrong-doing. But they handled all of this in such an embarrassing way it feels like it was done that way by design. I think it was. This, at the end of the day, was an exercise in branding.

Evergreen State College can’t compete in Washington state with serious schools like the University of Washington, Washington State University, Seattle Pacific, or Gonzaga. So they’re leaning into the crazy. They want to be known as the school for our country’s most extreme students. It’s their calling card. Have an irrational political belief you’re willing to literally fight for? Want to silence opposing viewpoints? Come to Evergreen. This is your safe space.

Evergreen just spent $500,000 on a marketing campaign. They better hurry though. The national embarrassment that they’ve become has already cost jobs.

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