LETTER TO THE EDITOR: In defense of Professor Swan

This last week Students Against the State made a display against our veteran’s club flag display. The day after they put up their disrespectful display The Volante had four articles talking about the display. One was a letter to the editor written by the faculty advisor for Students Against the State, titled “In Defense of Anarchy.” I initially connected the letter to the editor as a defense of the actions against the flag display, which turns out to be incorrect. There were more people who made this connection than just myself and I want to let them know, Dr. Swan was not defending the actions of Patrick Linsenmeyer. Because of Mr. Linsenmeyer’s actions and the timing of his article’s publication, Dr. Swan has suffered.

Let me talk about Dr. Swan. He is a veteran himself, serving in the Marine Corp where he spent time in Korea, the Philippines and Panama. He believes strongly in the freedoms of expression and is a diehard supporter of any and all people’s right to express themselves as they see fit. Due to his convictions, he decided to be the faculty advisor to SATS. He does not believe in anarchy, he does not believe in defacing a flag display meant to commemorate those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. He repeatedly told SATS to follow the policies and procedures for anything that the group was planning.

Sometimes good people do great things for the little guy; Dr. Swan should be commemorated for that. In this instance, the actions of Mr. Linsenmeyer caused harm to the one person who helped his radical fringe group. I was the person who took down the display put up by Mr. Linsenmeyer, it made me sick and made me angry, but that ire should not be directed toward Dr. Swan.

Craig Evenson
USD Law Student, Vermillion
Iraq War Veteran
 

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1 comments

Brian Ney

Sat May 1 2010 23:32

Craig,

Thank you for the well-reasoned letter. I have worked closely with Dr. Swan the past two years and I know that he is very proud of his time in the Marine Corps. I also know that he respects the individuals who have served, and, while he believes in freedom of speech, Dr. Swan would never do anything to disrespect our servicemen. It is something the two of us have discussed often.

Brian Ney, Corporal
United States Marine Corps
1993-1998

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