BOISE, Idaho — After nearly two months of investigating, an external firm has found no "evidence of attempts to indoctrinate" Boise State University students after one student allegedly felt “humiliated and degraded” in an ethics and diversity course at the university.
In mid-March, the university suspended its University Foundations 200 course for a week after one person, who isn't a student at the university, "reported having viewed a video from a friend’s phone in which a Caucasian student was singled out by an instructor in a BSU class and was mistreated and demeaned."
To review the course after the "alarming allegation of abuse of a student," the university hired Hawley Troxell, an outside law firm, to conduct its own investigation, Boise State President Dr. Marlene Tromp said in a message addressed to university faculty on Monday.
Dr. Tromp said Hawley Troxell's external investigation, "reached out to thousands of students and included dozens of direct in-depth interviews and a review of hundreds of documents."
The investigation found, "that there were no violations of university policies nor was there evidence of attempts to indoctrinate our students," Tromp said.
According to the law firm's report, the alleged incident that led to the suspension of all UF 200 courses and the investigation itself happened on March 15, 2021.
The firm explained;
"The class discussion was allegedly on the topic of structural inequality, economics, and white privilege. It was alleged that the student was forced to apologize in front of the class for being “white” or for the student’s “white privilege” and was then subjected to taunts, name-calling, and other verbal attacks from other students. It was alleged that the word “stupid” was used during the incident and that the student left the class in tears."
Hawley Troxell's investigation could not substantiate any of the allegations made and found that no students reported being singled out or "being forced to apologize for the color of their skin."
Read the full report from Hawley Troxell below:
In the spring semester of 2021, a total of 1,299 students were enrolled in the university's 55 different sections of UF 200. Each of the 36 instructors selects their own themes and course materials for the class and students are free to enroll in whichever one they choose. According to the report, the firm interviewed 30 students.
While the investigation could not substantiate the incident, eight students, the course instructor and the student involved all shared a similar account of an incident that happened the week before.
The firm found the facts of the matter were that during a class over Zoom, students were discussing "capitalism and racism," among other related topics, and a heated debate between the instructor and the student started to brew. The student, "felt like the instructor had made a comment that contradicted something the instructor had previously stated and that the instructor’s logic was inconsistent."
The student "struggled to find the right wording" and said they, "felt like the 'instructor’s logic was stupid,'" which classmates soon started calling her out for. saying. The instructor jumped in, saying "stupid" may have been a poor choice in words but thought the student "was only taking issue with the logic used."
The student became frustrated and said she left the Zoom meeting early and was crying. They told investigators that "she did not feel like the instructor was disrespectful to her in any way." They added that the instructor reached out to them after the class to check in on them.
"Specifically, it is our opinion that the incident that most closely matches the description that was provided did not rise to the level of a policy violation or student mistreatment as Student 1 stated that she did not feel mistreated and that she did not feel like the instructor had disrespected Student 1, all of which was corroborated by the instructor and other students in the class. Indeed, it is our opinion that the instructor responded appropriately to the situation," the report stated.
Dr. Tromp said she was pleased to know that there were not any policy violations and said the university will continue to teach students "how to think, not what to think."
"Any class where you're talking about issues in a culture that's as polarized as we are right now is going to require courage on everybody's part," Tromp told The 208 on Monday afternoon.
"We ask our students and members of our community to meet us in good faith as we do the important work of preparing people for careers and lives beyond the university," Tromp said in her address.
Tromp added that education leaders are still working to adhere to House Bill 377, which would "establish provisions regarding dignity and nondiscrimination in public education."
"Students will be called upon to meet learning objectives of their classes and their curriculum, but they are not obliged to share the values and opinions of the authors they read or the faculty who teach them," Tromp wrote. "Significantly, people across the political spectrum are often seeking the same thing—a free expression and exchange of ideas—and fear the same thing, the loss of that free expression and exchange of ideas."
Tromp told The 208 that the university will also be open to Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin's task force that "protect" students from the "scourge" of "socialism."
"In some ways, what she's doing is an extension of the work that we did in the Hawley Troxell report," she said, "but I would truly hope that the lieutenant governor and that task force will be open to hearing from a broad range of students, will be open to hearing from a broad range of faculty, and will be open to actually all the positions that are out there and really learn from people in the same way that we're making the effort to do that."
Read President Dr. Tromp's full message below:
Tromp also told KTVB that college prepares people to think critically and be ethical.
"One of the things a university education has always been known for is not giving or instilling certain kinds of values in people, but bringing to that conscience level, the values that people have and how they think them through. So it's about becoming a reasoning, thinking, ethical person," she told KTVB. "So it's not about changing people's minds, in fact, what we want to do is open people's minds and let them make their choices."
Tromp also mentioned that the investigation has changed how the university thinks about its UF courses.
"There's this perception that we want to be in the political fight in a certain sort of way. We absolutely want to expose our students to a broader reach of ideas, but our students always have the right to make up their own minds and to think how they choose to think," she said.
According to Idaho Education News, Tromp and Interim Provost Tony Roark told university staff in an email that all UF 200 courses were suspended after “a series of concerns, culminating in allegations that a student or students have been humiliated and degraded in class on our campus for their beliefs and values."
If a student "believes that he or she has been mistreated or discriminated against in an academic setting," the university has policies that allow students to "file an academic grievance or to allege violations of the University's nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy," according to Tromp.
"We must continue to make clear our commitment to these guiding policies and 'treat people with dignity regardless of who they are and what they believe.' While it may be uncomfortable for people to have others express disagreement with their ideas or interpretations, our students, faculty, and staff have every right to express their disagreements respectfully," Tromp said.