NEW: @OleMiss is trying to compel its ombudsman to turn over confidential communications in order to unmask the #UMemails whistleblowers who exposed a web of racism among UM officials and donors.

The effort has "terrified" faculty members.

“We’re all worried the university is going to get a hold of his communications & that our names will be revealed,” said one faculty member (not a whistleblower) who shared concerns with the ombudsman, fearing retaliation if they raised them elsewhere. 2/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
Two faculty members said they worry the university could be laying groundwork to eliminate the Ombudsman Office altogether.

“If they took that Ombuds office away, there would be nowhere for faculty to go. ... That’s the only place we have on campus." 3/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
"People would be terrified of speaking up because people who speak up get hammered at this university. There is no place to go except the Ombuds office to be treated fairly & with respect. Paul Caffera as the ombudsman is the only place women can go.” 4/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
The University of Mississippi EORC, which is charged with enforcing Title IX, is leading the investigatory effort to unmask the #UMEmails whistleblowers on "hostile work environment" allegations" after they exposed a web of racism and sexism on campus. 5/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
Ombudsman Caffera filed a lawsuit on Nov. 19 to block the EORC’s efforts to compel him to disclose information or to access his emails and private communications. He says he is not affiliated with and does not know the identities of the whistleblowers. 6/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
There is no indication UM officials involved in the racist #UMemails were punished. Instead, the EORC is probing vague claims that the whistleblowers are creating a “hostile work environment…on the basis of race & national origin & just in general.” 7/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
"The purpose of a university ombuds is to provide a safe & confidential place for members of a university community to bring forward issues of concern in a manner that protects them from retribution or retaliation for (speaking) about their concerns." 8/ https://t.co/bqr2Dvxhc2
For background, read our read our initial 3-part #UMemails investigation, starting here.

‘The Fabric Is Torn In Oxford’: UM Officials Decried Racism Publicly, Coddled It Privately
https://t.co/K2yGQqYsgj
When I first investigated the #UMemails, multiple sources told me they & others feared retaliation if they spoke out publicly.

Some claimed a "witch hunt" ensued in 2018 after a tape leaked to a reporter that almost revealed the story sooner. https://t.co/bhW3yfH2MO
Multiple sources spoke to us who asked to be anonymous out of fear of retaliation, saying that they had to speak out because a "culture of secrecy" & fear among faculty enabled the continued status quo. Here's Part 3: https://t.co/5zO5Y8gsEg
We first broke news that UM was investigating whistleblowers last month—and that ex-journalism dean Will Norton, who resigned when a public records request brought the racist emails to light, continues to earn almost $20k a month—despite not teaching. https://t.co/ZiOqq9XLhp
If you support the work we do to hold power & public institutions in Mississippi accountable, please follow @MSFreePress and support paywall free, non-profit journalism at this link: https://t.co/Ru01Wfm9Xo

More from Economy

1/ To add a little texture to @NickHanauer's thread, it's important to recognize that there's a good reason why orthodox economists (& economic cosplayers) so vehemently oppose a $15 min wage:

The min wage is a wedge that threatens to undermine all of orthodox economic theory.


2/ Orthodox economics is grounded in two fundamental models: a systems model that describes the market as a closed equilibrium system, and a behavioral model that describes humans as rational, self-interested utility-maximizers. The modern min wage debate undermines both models.

3/ The assertion that a min wage kills jobs is so central to orthodox economics that it is often used as the textbook example of the Supply/Demand curve. Raise the cost of labor and businesses will buy less of it. It's literally Econ 101!


4/ Econ 101 insists that markets automatically set an efficient "equilibrium price" for labor & everything else. Mess with this price and bad things happen. Yet decades of empirical research has persuaded a majority of economists that this just isn't

5/ How can this be? Well, either the market is not a closed equilibrium system in which if you raise the price of labor employers automatically purchase less of it... OR the market is not automatically setting an efficient and fair equilibrium wage. Or maybe both. #FAIL
Long rant: This @WSJ article bemoaning the decline of price theory is really worth highlighting. The economic theories and so called "laws of economics" that the WSJ consistently and religiously defends, are the source of their authority, power and privilege.


So called economic "theories" like "you get paid exactly what you are worth" and "markets are perfectly efficient" and "when wages rise, jobs fall" and "raising taxes on the rich kills jobs and growth" and "increasing justice decreases economic efficiency" and...

"Government intervention in markets always creates more harm than good" and "any regulation that constrains corporations kills growth and productivity", etc etc are effectively a protection racket for the rich. It is a set of internally consistent and mathematized conjectures...

That are all demonstrably nonsense. But getting people to accept these "theories" as laws of nature and immutable, timeless truths is the most effective way our current economic elites have found to maintain and enhance the status of the powerful and persuade the weak and poor...

to shut the fuck up and accept their lot in life. Now, FINALLY, some economists- are actually beginning to look at the real world evidence to determine whether these propositions actually describe anything real here on planet earth. Let me save you some time. The answer is NO.

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