Her costume was out of bounds.
Via The College Fix:
The University of Oregon railroaded a law professor in 2016 for wearing a too-complicated-to-explain Halloween costume that offended students and faculty, putting her on administrative leave for “discriminatory harassment.”
Nancy Shurtz is returning to campus in July after a year on sabbatical, and she’s receiving a fresh defense for her choice to promote racial equity in a way that confused everyone at her optional-to-attend, off-campus Halloween party.
The Daily Emerald reports that Shurtz still denies she wore “blackface” by modeling her costume after the book Black Man in a White Coat:
“That term is reserved for derogatory, mocking, and demeaning depictions of African-Americans,” she said. “At my private, off-campus Halloween party, I sought to challenge racism and provoke thought by depicting through my costume, a book — Dr. Damon Tweedy’s A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine. … At no time did I portray Dr. Tweedy, but I did want to honor him as a man of courage and insight.”
The university itself admitted that her purpose was to protest the “shortage of racial diversity, and particularly of black men, in higher education.” A professor of ethnic studies actually claimed that her naivete about how her costume could be perceived shows the “callous disregard for black humanity among my colleagues and students.”[…]
Unlike Fresno State University, which recently walked back rhetoric suggesting it would punish a far-left professor for her extramural speech about Barbara Bush’s death, the University of Oregon still refuses to apologize for illegally punishing a professor for speech in her own home:
In a statement provided to the Emerald, UO spokesperson Tobin Klinger said the incident has had “a significant impact on the law school and the larger campus community,” but steps, such as curriculum review and school-wide workshops, are being taken to improve relations within the community.
The law school is still treating Shurtz like a threat to students, hosting a town hall where students voiced “concerns about taking courses taught by Shurtz and their disappointment that Shurtz wasn’t at the town hall,” The Register-Guard reports.