“Understand this, I mean to arrive at the truth. The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.” — Hercule Poirot, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
Oddly enough, even Poirot’s “little grey cells” would not be necessary in a curious case on the campus of American University in Washington, D.C. Recently, someone wrote the words “Black people suck” on a whiteboard on the second floor of the school’s Bender Library. School officials suspect that the racist message was left on the board for approximately 90 minutes before library staff documented and then erased the scrawl. Based on video recordings and other evidence, the school has identified the person who was responsible.
Normally at this point, a hearing would have been held, and the guilty party would have been expelled. Protests would then follow. But despite the fact that the person has been identified, the school refuses to release a name. The College Fix contacted American University and inquired about the race and gender of the suspect. The response from spokesman Matthew Bennett? “Due to federal privacy law, we cannot disclose personal records or details. The message sent to the AU community on Monday contains our full statement on the matter.”
When pressed as to what law he was referencing, Bennett stated, “FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) requires us to maintain confidentiality of student records and various employment laws require confidentiality of employee records. Identifying information about a person is considered part of that record.” As Adam Goldstein from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Fix, the college could release the race and gender of the culprit, given the size of the student population. As long as race and gender do not help identify a specific person, that information should not constitute a FERPA violation.
So we would not need Poirot to identify the suspect. Like the Canadian Mounties, the university has its man. Or woman. Or whatever they are identifying themselves as at the moment. Poirot’s challenge would be discovering why the school is withholding this person’s race and gender. Let us be honest: in most cases like these, the race of the offender would be paramount, and if said person was white, that information would have been made known. They would already have been whisked off campus after having faced a tribunal and possibly had a conversation with law enforcement. And there is no denying that racism has no place on college campuses. (I shouldn’t have to say that, but while my calendar says 2023, the Left would have us all believe it is 1963.) And who knows, that still may happen.
But with the suspect’s race and gender remaining unknown (for the moment), the university has the option of allowing the public and the student body to follow the most obvious trail: that the act was the result of white racism. And maybe it is. Or maybe it isn’t. And if it is not — if this is another racial hoax — American University is still free to advance and maintain the popular narrative by letting peoples’ minds focus on the usual suspects.
The race of the culprit will be foremost in everyone’s mind. It is the only question people will ask about this incident. And like it or not, the college has a duty to release that information, whether it conforms to the narrative or not.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member