A “Canceled” Student Strikes Back - Morgan Bettinger’s lawsuit against the University of Virginia deserves close attention.

A “Canceled” Student Strikes Back - Morgan Bettinger’s lawsuit against the University of Virginia deserves close attention. - Graham Hillard

"On the evening of July 17, 2020, one of two things happened on a blocked thoroughfare in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

• Either Morgan Bettinger, a rising senior at UVA, uttered a threatening and contemptible remark to Black Lives Matter protestors who were barring her way home. 
• Or the young woman made an anodyne comment that was immediately—and perhaps intentionally—misunderstood...

"...The Bettinger affair—since covered by the New York Post, Reason, The Daily Mail (UK), and numerous other outlets—turns on a single disputed fact. 

Approaching a group of BLM activists crowding the road on the night in question, the UVA senior pulled over, left her vehicle, and spoke to a municipal worker who had positioned his truck as a protective barricade. 

• As Bettinger tells the story, she remarked jokingly to the city employee, “It’s a good thing you’re here, because otherwise these people would have been speed bumps.” 
• What was heard (or “heard”) by an eavesdropping protestor, however, was something altogether more damning: The assembled activists would make “good speed bumps” for Bettinger’s car.

What happened next will surprise no one who is familiar with the increasing illiberality of America’s universities...