The author was writing about the community in general, not just the University, so her comments on the school board are relevant to her thesis. It's useful to understand that she is a black academic, so she is coming from this issue from that unique angle. From where I'm sitting, I see flaws in her thinking:

- What community of at least, say, 10,000 people doesn't have instances of racism? If you tolerate free speech and expression, I guess you can say you tolerate racism. But welcome it? C-ville still welcomes it? Who thinks it was welcome when the march happened in the first place?

- the old law and order tension. She laments that the law school library gives Kessler an office. I don't know why they do, and whether that represents welcoming a white supremacist, or simply an alum who lives in the area is unclear to me. But one thing is clear - if you break the law, you'll be subject to arrest, even if you are breaking it to oppose something most of us find objectionable.

So, the old Antifa argument from the righties looking for a bogeyman to rival nazis - they're the real lawbreakers! If you break the law, you are judged on your actions, not your views on race, and no, nothing about that is welcoming racism.

- her take on the school board story is kind of disturbing. If they really refused to give people a hearing, I agree that's inappropriate, especially with emotions so raw over this. But if they heard complaints and just said "you know what, we're erring on the side of letting students wear what they want" - how much "erring" should be allowed is a reasonable debate to have, but not getting your way is not the same as "my town welcomes racists!".

I think this article is indicative of the problems we see largely from the left in our universities. To me, the author just doesn't want to see anything anywhere that she thinks smacks of white supremacy. In other words, selective censorship is ok with her. You can understand where she is coming from. But it's an extension of the debate over how to handle our complicated past with race. Like the statue removers, she wants it whitewashed.

Which winds up becoming a bit of a steamroller over freedom of expression, which is why universities nationwide have gone from being comics' preferred grounds for experimentation with their routines when I was a kid in the '80s, to being off limits to most comics today.