Marquette Apologizes for “Sniper/Nazi” jibe

When an Engineering professor equated American Snipers with Nazis, and implied that Republicans support Nazis, several students complained, including especially a Jewish student who particularly resented the trivilization of real Nazism. Marquette has been reasonably responsive and forthright on this issue. Today, the University issued a statement about the incident:

Statement of Dean Stanley Jaskolski, Dean of Marquette University College of Engineering:

I recently learned of an incident that took place in a College of Engineering classroom. According to the professor, he was attempting to make a point about the inappropriateness of wearing an offensive message on a bracelet.

On behalf of the entire College of Engineering, I apologize to all who have been offended by this deeply regrettable incident. This action was ill-conceived and inappropriate for the classroom.

The professor in question, William Brower, seems to believe that if he objects to an “offensive message” displayed by the College Republicans (a set of dog tags saying “1 shot, 1 kill, no remorse, I decide”) an appropriate response is to offend the College Republicans in return. The problem is that the College Republicans didn’t intentionally set out to insult anybody, and Brower did.

One of the great intellectual vices of the politically correct crowd is their notion that they have a right to be “offended” at any statement with which they happen to disagree.

Marquette’s apology is forthright and appropriate, but Brower appears to think that insulting College Republicans is acceptable merely because he disagrees with them.