James Bacon of Bacons Rebellion wrote about the case:

“Two-and-a-half years ago, Kieran Ravi Bhattacharya, a medical school student at the University of Virginia, attended a session on “microaggressions” in which psychology professor Beverly Colwell Adams gave a presentation about her research. In what he thought to be a collegial manner, Bhattacharya challenged her analysis.

The challenge was not well received. Indeed, other participants in the session deemed his questions disrespectful. There followed a sequence of events in which Bhattacharya was investigated by the Academic Standards and Achievement Committee for unprofessional behavior, was told to submit to psychological evaluation, was suspended, was branded as a threat to the university community, was banned from the university grounds, and ultimately was expelled.”

Reason, which first reported the story, summarized the microaggression panel exchange by noting Bhattacharya began it by seeking clarity on the definition of microaggressions:

“Is it a requirement, to be a victim of microaggression, that you are a member of a marginalized group?”

[Presenter Beverly Cowell] Adams replied that it wasn’t a requirement.

Bhattacharya suggested that this was contradictory, since a slide in her presentation had defined microaggressions as negative interactions with members of marginalized groups. Adams and Bhattacharya then clashed for a few minutes about how to define the term. It was a polite disagreement. Adams generally maintained that microaggression theory was a broad and important topic and that the slights caused real harm. Bhattacharya expressed a scientific skepticism that a microaggression could be distinguished from an unintentionally rude statement. His doubts were wellfounded given that microaggression theory is not a particularly rigorous concept.

“The exchange (an audio recording of which is available) prompted a series of events that led to Bhattacharya being kicked out of med school, court documents allege, “ The College Fix reported.

Essentially what started as a concern over Bhattacharya’s exchange turned into meetings with his deans and a hearing that determined he should get a psychological evaluation before returning to campus. Next, campus officials told Bhattacharya he would be required to get the psychological evaluation before returning to school, and Bhattacharya balked at such a request.

The left needs to be forced to respect the rights of others in schools, because it is frightening what they have done to generations of Americans and our greatest institutions.