So which is it, Dartmouth College Associate Vice President for Communications Diana Lawrence (no picture on her Dartmouth page – wonder why (not!)) and Anna Hall, the Dartmouth Senior Assistant Dean for Student Life?
You’d think that being part of the Leadership most involved with their hijacking of the Dartmouth College Republican event, they’d at least figure out what their story really is, right?
To recap, earlier reporting had Anna Hall and her sidekick Jim Alberghini saying that 177 people signed up for the virtual event.
Now, from NH Journal, we have this:
Lawrence said 94 people signed on to attend Ngo’s event virtually.
So, these Smaht People can’t even keep their stories the same? And NH Journal’s Damien Fisher also quoted the Smarmy Press Release that stated “…the college has requested that the ‘Extremism in America’ panel be moved online” in trying to sugarcoat how they handled the situation just like we did. I’ll need to ask for “clarification” on this…
Now, to remind everyone, the ending from the press release from the College Republicans:
And, most importantly, they were worried about the anarchists giving Dartmouth bad PR. So, they are now trying to throw us under the bus and gaslight us into believing this was all our fault.
Sure thing, dudes and dudettes – you’ve successfully moved the story from Antifa onto yourselves, as Fisher also had this at the top of his post. You brought these folks upon yourselves, too:
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) tells NHJournal it has launched an investigation into Dartmouth College’s decision to shut down an appearance by conservative journalist Andy Ngo in the face of threats of violence from Antifa.
“Threats of violence are never an appropriate response to speech you oppose and must not dictate who may speak, or what may be said, on a college campus. Universities should not reward those who threaten violence by canceling controversial speakers,” said FIRE Program Officer Zach Greenberg.
Yeah, now the Dartmouth Administration is going to get that bad PR they so desperately trying to avoid. You’d think that one of the most basic lessons in Communications that Dartmouth College Associate Vice President for Communications Diana Lawrence would have learned was that trying to get away with a coverup is ALWAYS worse than the incident that is trying to be covered up. If they would have been forthright, truthful, and honest in the beginning, they would have gotten some grumbling.
Now they are going to have to face the music big time. FIRE is no run of the mill entity – they have a national presence and a league of both in-house and associated lawyers. And LOTS of people are going to start following this story.
Hey, Diana – did you learn about the Streisand Effect in your Communications classes? If not, you’re about to learn this lesson as part of your “on the job training”. And if the cover up wasn’t enough, you’ve now opened up yourself (and Dartmouth for such a stupid decision) to lots of ridicule.
And now, quite a few of us are now watching how fast those tap dancing feet are going to trying to spin themselves out of this one.
And who ever said that blogging was boring?
