Chinese Student Fights Back Against University, Sues School Over Arbitrary Speech Codes

Austin Tong is a rising senior at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business. On July 14th, he was officially notified for failure to adhere to the school’s “Violation of University Regulations relating to Bias and/or Hate Crimes”; Threats/Intimidation” and was subsequently placed on disciplinary probation as punishment for two of his Instagram posts. Currently, Tong is no longer welcome on campus, and he must attend mandatory meetings about implicit bias as well as draft an apology letter. Failure to complete these actions could result in full suspension or expulsion from the school. In retaliation, Tong has sued Fordham for their “Soviet-style” response. 

On June 3, Tong posted a picture of deceased police officer David Dorn, a 77-year-old police captain who was murdered during the rioting in St. Louis. Tong captioned the memory of Dorn with “Y’all a bunch of hypocrites,” a statement he said, as a Black Lives Matters supporter, demonstrated his frustration with “the nonchalant societal reaction over [Dorn’s] death.”

The following day, on the 31st annual anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Tong posted a picture of himself holding a purchased rifle off-campus with the caption “Don’t tread on me” along with a hashtag memorializing the date of the massacre. The caption also included American and Chinese flag emojis. 

According to the Epoch Times, Fordham’s public safety officers visited Tong on the evening of the Tiananmen post to question him about his possession of the firearm as well as his post’s intentions. The university concluded its investigation on July 14, and they subsequently placed Tong on probation beginning July 17. Tong has repeatedly defended his posts, stating “I expressed my appreciation of the 2nd Amendment and mourning of the anniversary of a Chinese Democratic movement by posting a picture of my legally purchased rifle in my home, and my sympathetic feeling toward Black Police Officer David Dorn.” His personal sentiments do not warrant a severe punishment, he argues: “The content of both posts are fully by my love for this country, fully within the boundaries of law and university code, and in no way expressing threatening or hateful thoughts — yet the University subjectively and maliciously assumed my intentions as hate crime and threat.” 

Furthermore, Tong dismisses critics who assert “[Fordham] is a private university; they aren’t bound by free speech codes.” In response to these critics, Tong points to the university’s own policies as evidence for his case: Fordham University, a Jesuit university, claims in their code of conduct that they protect “freedom of expression and the open exchange of ideas.” Additionally, “The expression of controversial ideas and differing views is a vital part of University discourse. Although the expression of an idea or point of view may be offensive or inflammatory to others, it may not constitute a hate crime or bias-related incident.” According to Tong in his GoFundMe testimony, “Not simply did Fordham University break its promise and punish me, but it signaled to students nationwide, that free speech is a political trap that will destroy you.” As of right now, Tong has raised $53k of his $350k goal. 

Besides starting a GoFundMe and garnering attention at the national level, Tong’s experiences have also led to other organizations getting involved. FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education), a nonpartisan organization created “to defend and sustain the individual rights of students and faculty members at America’s colleges and universities,” issued a rebuke to Fordham University. The author of the rebuke, FIRE’s Program Officer Lindsie Rank, summarized Tong’s experiences: “When Tong immigrated to the United States from China at six years old, his family sought to ensure that he would be protected by the rights guaranteed by their new home, including the freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. Here, however, Fordham has acted more like the Chinese government than an American university, placing severe sanctions on a student solely because of off-campus political speech.”