Professor Wins Case: Classical Music Isn’t Racist

A professor just won his court case after being put through the wringer for arguing that classical music and musicians aren’t inherently racist. This ought to have been a self-evident proposition, but nowadays everything and everyone seems vulnerable to accusations of racism, except the Democrats who actually are racist.

The state-funded University of North Texas went after Prof. Timothy Jackson, and the case eventually involved TX Attorney General Ken Paxton and former state Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell. The case ended with a joint stipulation of dismissal, as Jackson agreed to accept a settlement of $725,000, according to Just the News.

It is unfortunate that many academics these days are so obsessed with politics and race-baiting that they try to make everything about those topics, which is what Jackson found out, to his cost. In this case, Jackson reportedly claimed that an accusation of racism against his journal’s namesake was antisemitic. But leftist academia encourages antisemitism; that’s not considered racism or harmful prejudice.

From Just the News:

UNT kicked Jackson out of the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, named after German music theorist Heinrich Schenker, and put it on ice for five years after Jackson published an issue responding to a black peer's claims that the Jewish Schenker was an "ardent racist."
Jackson's critique in volume 12 said Hunter College professor Phillip Ewell peddled a "conspiracy theory" that is “part and parcel of the much broader current of Black anti-semitism." He also said musical tastes argued why few black people are music theorists, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle, which saw volume 12 before UNT pulled it.

But with the new settlement, Jackson once more has control over his music theory journal and also has a reduced workload.

The original UNT investigation came after graduate students anonymously asserted that Jackson was “platforming… racist sentiments,” while Ewel demanded “antiracist actions.” Jackson and the other editors of the journal found themselves under investigation as the anonymous snowflakes screamed for their punishment.

Ironically, UNT previously rejected a settlement that would have restored the journal, retracted defamation against Jackson, and paid for the professor’s legal fees. It appears they will suffer a greater monetary loss under the new settlement. “I would have liked to go into trial … to have everything exposed publicly, more obviously,” Jackson told the Record-Chronicle. That would have sent “a stronger message not just to UNT, but to the whole university system in the United States." Instead, he ultimately accepted that the settlement might be better for him than “to really pursue a devastating blow.”

Unfortunately, the settlement also includes some provisions for how UNT demands the professor run his journal, giving the university some control, and the accusers did not admit to wrongdoing. This could cause problems in the future. As I can attest from my own experience, when a college or university takes upon itself the right to dictate what can and cannot be published in a journal, that is the death of all academic free discourse. Hopefully, Jackson will not have to go back to court in the future to vindicate his free speech once again.

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