TPUSA Advisor Attacked by Leftwing, Activist Colleagues on Tennessee Tech Campus
If you think I’m exaggerating when I say that radical, anti-American leftist activists are in college classrooms teaching our children, think again. Tennessee Tech University is currently determining disciplinary action against two university professors for posting flyers around campus calling Dr. Andrew Donadio LCDR, USN (Ret), a fellow professor, “racist.”
This all started in February after the Putnam County school board met to discuss renaming Algood Middle School’s mascot from the Redskins to something “less offensive.” Dr. Donadio, who also serves as Putnam County’s Commissioner, voted against changing the mascot because the budget implications were estimated to be as much as $70,000. To him, that was too costly for the small community after a hard economic year.
Upon realization that the mascot committee failed to form, Dr. Donadio applauded during the school board meeting. Also present was Professor Julia Gruber, who found Dr. Donadio’s expression of approval inappropriate. She then went home and texted about the incident with her colleague, Professor Andrew Smith.
Knowing this, it should be surprising to no one that these adult activists would be critical of Turning Point USA. In fact, Dr. Donadio’s association as advisor of the Tennessee Tech TPUSA Chapter seemingly fanned the flames of contempt for Gruber and Smith. Frustrated by Dr. Donadio’s opposition to the change of the local middle school’s mascot, Gruber and Smith immediately took action by posting the following flyer around Tennessee Tech’s campus:
Smith, who had especially been critical of TPUSA in the past, defended the duo’s actions by claiming that he modeled the flyer after some Professor Watchlist profiles. What I find odd about this assertion is that Professor Watchlist prides itself on reporting only factual accounts that have been published by other news outlets. We never label a professor “racist” and threaten them with phrases like “you’re on our list;” we simply report the facts to keep students and parents informed on what professors are teaching in the classroom. If Smith and Gruber were honest people, they would admit that by creating these flyers, they sought to ruin Dr. Donadio’s reputation and make him a target on Tennessee Tech’s campus. That’s what these activists do. They don’t believe in First Amendment protection of speech unless it’s their own, and anything other than what they deem “appropriate” is considered “hate speech.”
As for the Tennessee Tech TPUSA Chapter, students have had to face severe discrimination as a result of these professors’ actions, also. During the investigation by Tennessee Tech, Smith encouraged students to heckle TPUSA students and supporters at my Gen-Free Tour event in Nashville with Candace Owens. Smith even made the following post calling for his “Nashville Good Trouble crew” to “call out these fascists.”
I hate to break it to Smith, but if you declare war on students and colleagues for having differing views and using their right to free speech, you just might be the fascist.
Cole Hodges, Tennessee Tech TPUSA Chapter Campus Coordinator, said, “The left preaches tolerance for all unless it is from an individual or organization with a different view from their own, then all bets are off. It is incredibly sad to be targeted and have false accusations thrown at me and my fellow students and our faculty advisor simply because a group of professors do not agree with us.”
Cole is right. This disgusting behavior from grown adults should have consequences. Thankfully, Tennessee Tech is taking the appropriate steps to ensure the rights of students and faculty to speak freely—even if it means protecting the right to clap when efforts to change a school mascot fails.
Faculty advisor of the Tennessee Tech TPUSA Chapter and victim of this heinous act, Dr. Andrew Donadio, said, “We will not back down, we will not be harassed or intimidated. I wish this had not have happened. This isn’t a battle we chose but it is a battle from which we will not flee. I’m encouraged by TN Tech’s fair response and look forward to a speedy conclusion so I may return to the business of educating future leaders in our community and hospitals.”
Donadio appeared on Fox & Friends with Tennessee Tech Chapter President, Gittle Sciolis, to discuss to situation. Check out the segment below:
Hopefully, more groups will start following in the footsteps of Tennessee Tech and holding amateur neo-tyrants like Smith and Gruber accountable. There is no justification for publicly slandering a person because they hold opposite values. It’s disgusting. It’s reprehensible. And the only way it will end is when universities, corporations, businesses, and fellow conservatives begin standing up for one another.
