Demand That CU Honor the 1st Amendment

This is a public letter. Distribute it as broadly as you want.

Dear CU and Other Interested Parties,

Because the University of Colorado repeatedly violates my freedom of speech and freedom of press, I demand that CU immediately stops censoring my free speech in their efforts to cover up their own racism. For almost a decade I have advised CU to stop being racist. Rather than avoiding racist behaviors, CU retaliates against those who reveal racism and breaks the law to cover up their racism. To briefly recount why we have come to this point, I was a tenured Assoc. Professor at CU Denver doing innovative work in Haiti. My supervisor was avowed racist John Swallow, who did not consider research and teaching with Black colleagues to be as valuable as research and teaching with White colleagues. Rather, he considered the former to be humanitarian service, even after being informed that his opinion was racist. When this racist attitude was brought to his attention, he got very angry and “exploded”. He caused my peer-reviewed work in Haiti to be retracted, which likely cost untold BIPOC lives during the pandemic. The Swallow-led academic mobbing aimed at me resulted in the Regents of Colorado dismissing me without a public meeting, as required by their own policy.

I demand that CU Denver immediately stop deleting and otherwise interfering with my posts on their social media platforms. I created a blog at CUDenverLynx.com to document racism at CU. I am glad that the CU community reads the blogs, but find it disconcerting that CU violates the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution to hide the truth from the public. John Swallow has deleted his own posts, which I agree that he has the right to do with a chuckle. I disagree with his email to me that I cannot use his voice or likeness in my communications, whether he was told this by Chris Puckett or not. I will use Chair Swallow and other administrators’ words to support my claims of racism and retaliation. For example, Profs. Tomback and Swallow had Cronin 2015 retracted in retaliation for revealing racism even though Swallow admitted that my issues with Tomback were because she “can be a difficult person to work with”. I revealed that Chair is an avowed racist that CU promoted to Assoc. Dean of Student Success. Dean Swallow did not correct any of my reporting about his racism and lies, but he is probably responsible for blocking my ability to tag him in Facebook posts. CU knows that the avowed racist retaliated against me, lied about me, threatened me, and now interferes with spreading the truth about his racism, but they illegally fired me and promoted him. While I agree that Dean Swallow has the right to censor his own speech, CU should instruct him to stop interfering with my free speech.

The University of Colorado clearly wants to hide its racism when they delete my posts that expose their racism. This strategy is illegal. I am willing to remove my posts and return CUDenverLynx.com to promoting CU athletic teams if administration takes proper steps to end racism. I offered to meet with President Mark Kennedy, Provost Roderick Nairn, Chancellors Michelle Marks and Dorothy Horrell, the Office of Equity, John Swallow, Pamela Jansma, and Nelia Viveiros to discuss and codify the WUSO Antiracism Resolution. None of these administrators accepted my invitation. CU should contact me if they want to discuss ways to end racism and the need for my blog and public posts. Their hope to silence me by illegally firing me failed. I remain resolute in fighting racism at CU Denver even though I am no longer employed there. Prospective students, faculty and staff deserve to know this information, as do donors, funding agencies, and Coloradoans.

Consider this post to be a demand that the University of Colorado and its employees honor my freedom of speech and freedom of press. I will not object to its employees deleting their personal posts as John Swallow has, but do not delete my posts or any posts that result in my writing being deleted. I did not forfeit my free speech when we met in federal court before. I am willing to meet you in court again to discuss the virtues of antiracism, laws, and the 1st Amendment.

CU should apologize to the BIPOC people they harmed through their racism, but CU has a very poor record of apologizing for their mistakes. They should apologize to Haiti for their racist decision of forbidding faculty and students from assisting victims of the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. Instead, Provost Nairn offered a lame excuse that I will cover in an anniversary blog. CU famously could not apologize for a female student being called a “cunt”. Instead, President Betsy Hoffman offered the lame excuse that “cunt” could be considered a term of endearment. CU did not apologize for shipping hazardous chemical waste to the residence of my parents, though they did offer to pay for the cleanup. Instead of an apology, CU attorney Chris Puckett tried to blame me for chemical waste being at my parents’ residence. CU never apologized for failing to warn the public about the dangers posed by their student James Holmes, who killed 12 and injured 62 people in a mass shooting. The shooter and his mother apologized, but CU never has apologized for their role in the tragedy. CU never apologized for their racist decision to deny tenure to Lupita Montoya. Ironically, one of the few times I could find where CU administration offered an apology was for violating freedom of the press. An apology for removing my posts is justified, but given CU’s previous behavior, an apology probably won’t happen. I’m not seeking an apology. Rather, this letter is fair warning and Exhibit A if CU violates my 1st Amendment rights again.

Regards,

Greg Cronin, Ph.D.

PS. I now work in the nuclear energy sector, and am impressed that the NRC has an office at every nuclear power plant. Any employee can visit the NDC office without fear of retaliation. CU should implement a similar system regarding civil rights because CU's Office of Equity is a joke, as it serves CU's racist administration (https://cudenverlynx.com/ucd-office-of-equity-encourages-racism-by-turning-a-blind-eye). CU should replace their Office of Equity with a federal civil rights office on campus that would be truly independent, and would prevent the abuses documented at CUDenverLynx.com.

https://cudenverlynx.com/demand-that-cu-honor-the-1st-amendment