When I give speeches on college campuses it is often the case that the biggest jackass in the audience is a liberal professor at that university. Last Thursday was no exception when Professor Elliot Cramer showed his a** in front of an audience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The speech was on affirmative action but it might as well have been on the need for post-tenure psychiatric evaluations of professors.

Elliot Cramer used to be the advisor for the Youth for Western Civilization (YWC) chapter, which sponsored my speech. That was before protestors of the group sent out fliers in September with Cramer’s picture and personal contact information included. The fliers accused Cramer of supporting white supremacy by advising the group. They were unfair to Cramer who was advising the group simply because no one else would do so. And the group has never advocated "white supremacy."

When the president of the club gave Cramer a warning that his personal contact information and picture were circulating around campus he responded in an email saying “I have a Colt 45 and I know how to use it.” He foolishly copied a protestor of the group in the email. UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp over-reacted to the incident asking Cramer to step down as advisor. Then Cramer showed true First and Second Amendment cowardice by actually stepping down.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported on Elliot Cramer in an effort to portray him as a right-wing nut job. But they messed up the story slightly. He is more accurately characterized as a left-wing nut job. His bizarre comments on my affirmative action speech were revealing.

Cramer took exception to the fact that I talked about a black female former advisee in my speech. The advisee had performed poorly in school and fallen far short of the cumulative 3.0 GPA I require of students before I will recommend them for even the weakest of law schools. But she was admitted to a first-tier law school anyway. It was a school that generally requires a 3.5 GPA for admission.

Obviously, I presented this example to show two things: 1) Affirmative action is not a “tie breaker.” In fact, race can be the dominant factor in a decision to hire or admit into an academic program. 2) Affirmative action rewards mediocrity and hurts blacks by removing the incentive to cultivate their God-given abilities.

I never hurt my student by expressing this opinion. But affirmative action programs certainly did hurt her. And I would not back down from my opinion – even if I were staring down the barrel of a Colt 45.

But Elliot Cramer, the man who wrote a student saying “I have a Colt 45 and I know how to use it” still gave me a public lecture on ethics during the Q & A. He suggested I may have hurt the girl’s feelings by conveying my opinion that she was not qualified for admission to a first-tier law school – even though the woman was not present and was not identified by name.

Of course, none of Cramer’s odd objections are relevant. She knew I thought she was unqualified for law school when I told her I would not write her a letter of recommendation until she raised her GPA. I urged her to do better and then reminded her that I have a Colt 45 and I know how to use it. I’m just kidding about the last part. Only a lunatic would do something like that.

During the Q & A, I asked Cramer very specifically which ethical code I had broken by sharing that story of extreme affirmative action race preference involving a former advisee. The exchange went something like this:

Adams: Which rule or code did I violate by talking about this case?

Cramer: I don’t know.

Adams: So I didn’t violate any written rule of ethics - you just feel I was being unethical? Continued...