PRESIDENT OF UNIVERSITY FOUNDED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON ASKED TO STOP QUOTING JEFFERSON

The president of the university founded by Thomas Jefferson has been asked to stop quoting Thomas Jefferson. A letter signed by 469 students and professors objected to University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan quoting our nation’s third president and author of the Declaration of Independence. The reason, as you can guess: Jefferson owned slaves. Assistant Psychology Professor Noelle Hurd, who drafted the letter, says, “I think that Jefferson is often celebrated for his accomplishments with little or no acknowledgement of the atrocities he committed against hundreds of human beings.” Though Jefferson penned the line “all men are created equal,” Hurd says Jefferson’s words “communicate a message of exclusion.”
* I believe this is a prime example of a word Thomas Jefferson used a lot back in his day: chutzpah.
* Maybe Thomas Jefferson can forget to sign Professor Hurd’s paycheck some time.
* How about still quoting him, but prefacing each quote with “that S.O.B.”?
* Another win for “Hamilton.”
* I say if he wrote the Declaration of Independence, we cut him a break on the quotes.
* Otherwise we can’t quote the Declaration of Independence, right?
* His words communicate a message of exclusion? Oh, I get it. It’s the “all MEN are created equal” part.
* Maybe this is a welcome development. I mean we’re going to need other things to fight about now that Trump versus Hillary is over.