Lennox the menace
Dennis Lennox II could be described as a thorn in the side.
He calls Central Michigan Life reporters way too much. He pretty much is administrators' worst nightmare. And badgering Griffin Endowed Chair Gary Peters like he does is a poor way to get his point across.
But you know what? Nothing of what he does is illegal. Nor is he any danger to campus, like some English professors foolishly said on a department listserv back in October.
I have no background in psychology, but what has Lennox done to appear that he is "Virginia Tech shooter" dangerous, as one professor said? How has he shown he has mental problems?
The truth is, he hasn't done a thing to warrant these accusations.
He's just a guy who wants to push an agenda - a different agenda than what most CMU administrators have.
And therein lies the problem.
He is an extremely conservative student on a campus with liberal students and administrators. Furthermore, he is a politically active student on an apathetic campus.
In short, he sticks out like a sore thumb.
And because he sticks out he becomes an easy target.
It will be interesting to see what becomes of the Department of Education complaint. Did these English professors break the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act? It's tough to say.
The law, which says universities aren't allowed to disclose information about individual students, is complex. Lennox will have a hard time proving these professors broke the law.
But one thing is for certain: These remarks were unnecessary and unwarranted. Don't professors have better things to do than sit around and bash students on listservs?
How many of the professors personally knew Lennox? He is a political science major and a journalism minor, not English. Did they have him in class?
These professors were angry at him because of the incident with Pamela Gates in October, in which she pushed his camera away. Gates was the interim dean of the of the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences - the college the English Department is under.
Lennox, true to his form, filed a complaint against Gates. She did the same.
So these professors took it upon themselves to smear Lennox.
Lennox may be an extremist. He is overaggressive and will do anything to get what he wants. That is admirable in some ways, and scary in others.
But to call Lennox dangerous is insane. His antics may be repulsive at times. But he isn't hurting anyone.
So hate the guy if you want. Criticize him if you so please -sometimes it's warranted.
But keep your criticisms respectable.
If you don't Lennox is "crazy" enough to take you to court.
