A fast forensic analysis needs to be done. If it is a deepfake, why is the governor such a willing tool of propagandists? If it is genuine, who took the video? This is a law school course of mostly adults, not innocent schoolchildren. Let the author of the video take credit or be exposed. Then we can judge if the video is part of a larger campaign to smear universities by political activists. Is the videographer even a student, or one of those undercover, secret-agent cosplay people like James O'Keefe? Jeff Landry would know, what are they hiding? Again I ask, what are they hiding? Why all the secrecy? That is the message---no transparency and LSU is being used as a guinea pig for activist political groups. Stop it.
Bob, you raised the possibility that this could be a deepfake. Do we know ANYTHING about the origins of this video? Was it recorded by a student in the class? Are there policies on students recording classes through audio or visual methods? I had a student once who wanted to audio record lectures as a study aid. He did ask for permission and I said that we would have to raise the issue with the other students in the class, as it might have a chilling effect on speech. The other students in the class agreed, but with the stipulation that only the initial lecture parts of class not the discussion at the end or any sessions dedicated to student presentation or discussion could be recorded and that the recordings could NOT be circulated outside of class. Just wanting to know more about what we know--or might be able to find out--about the context and policies here.
I don’t know anything about the origin of the video. I didn’t want to dwell on that too much and overshadow the essence of what he said, and how he had a perfect right and even obligation to say it.
Since the election I have heard Trump supporters quick to deny that they are racists on the one hand and complain about being persecuted for being Trump supporters on the other. I don’t believe in persecuting anyone for any reason. If those who voted for Trump feel they are being persecuted I hope this will enable them to empathize for those being persecuted in a very real way by Trump and his cronies.
I think it was in 1974 that Louisiana made the constitutional change whereby funding for the universities would be discretionary (i.e., the legislature could allocate each year whatever it wanted to higher education, no matter how low the amount). I think they were aware then that in doing such a thing in the hyper-competitive world of higher education they were more or less condemning them all to long-term mediocrity. But those days seem like the halcyon past. Landry’s attempt to chill freedom of expression and instill fear which is the very antithesis of learning is unprecedented at least in my lifetime, and makes one long for the fifty-year era of benign neglect that universities here knew in the days when I was a student at one.
Landry obliviously wasn’t a math major. I just checked & Trump received only 50% of the national vote. So half of the people voted for someone other than Trump. Also Republicans aren’t students of history. See what the German-born sociologist Rudolph Heberle told Hubert Humphrey & Russell Long in his class at LSU as reported by Samuel G. Freedman in his book on Humphrey “Into the Sunshine.” Heberle was author of “From Democracy to Nazism.”
We need more professors like Bryner.
A fast forensic analysis needs to be done. If it is a deepfake, why is the governor such a willing tool of propagandists? If it is genuine, who took the video? This is a law school course of mostly adults, not innocent schoolchildren. Let the author of the video take credit or be exposed. Then we can judge if the video is part of a larger campaign to smear universities by political activists. Is the videographer even a student, or one of those undercover, secret-agent cosplay people like James O'Keefe? Jeff Landry would know, what are they hiding? Again I ask, what are they hiding? Why all the secrecy? That is the message---no transparency and LSU is being used as a guinea pig for activist political groups. Stop it.
That racist Jim Crow elephant sits in the lap of Jeff Landry and still in the lives of far too many residents of Lousyana (spelled correctly)!
Also, should we make anything of Professor Bryner's work in climate and environmental law, given the recent firing of Brian Salvatore at LSU Shreveport. Are they coming after climate scholars first? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2024/04/24/lsu-shreveport-seeks-fire-tenured-environmental-advocate
Excellent question
Bob, you raised the possibility that this could be a deepfake. Do we know ANYTHING about the origins of this video? Was it recorded by a student in the class? Are there policies on students recording classes through audio or visual methods? I had a student once who wanted to audio record lectures as a study aid. He did ask for permission and I said that we would have to raise the issue with the other students in the class, as it might have a chilling effect on speech. The other students in the class agreed, but with the stipulation that only the initial lecture parts of class not the discussion at the end or any sessions dedicated to student presentation or discussion could be recorded and that the recordings could NOT be circulated outside of class. Just wanting to know more about what we know--or might be able to find out--about the context and policies here.
I don’t know anything about the origin of the video. I didn’t want to dwell on that too much and overshadow the essence of what he said, and how he had a perfect right and even obligation to say it.
You've emphasized the essence superbly. Let others seek the origins of that video. It's important for separate, other reasons.
Since the election I have heard Trump supporters quick to deny that they are racists on the one hand and complain about being persecuted for being Trump supporters on the other. I don’t believe in persecuting anyone for any reason. If those who voted for Trump feel they are being persecuted I hope this will enable them to empathize for those being persecuted in a very real way by Trump and his cronies.
It sounds like Landry is offended by the Golden Rule.
Well said, Bob! I agree with you 100%! Thank you!
I think it was in 1974 that Louisiana made the constitutional change whereby funding for the universities would be discretionary (i.e., the legislature could allocate each year whatever it wanted to higher education, no matter how low the amount). I think they were aware then that in doing such a thing in the hyper-competitive world of higher education they were more or less condemning them all to long-term mediocrity. But those days seem like the halcyon past. Landry’s attempt to chill freedom of expression and instill fear which is the very antithesis of learning is unprecedented at least in my lifetime, and makes one long for the fifty-year era of benign neglect that universities here knew in the days when I was a student at one.
Excellent. The chaos surrounding Landry and Trump will only get worse. The pathology may indeed destroy them.
Landry obliviously wasn’t a math major. I just checked & Trump received only 50% of the national vote. So half of the people voted for someone other than Trump. Also Republicans aren’t students of history. See what the German-born sociologist Rudolph Heberle told Hubert Humphrey & Russell Long in his class at LSU as reported by Samuel G. Freedman in his book on Humphrey “Into the Sunshine.” Heberle was author of “From Democracy to Nazism.”