Comments reportedly made by Lyon College President W. Joseph King to a Washington, D.C.-based publication in late July are causing pushback from area residents and Independence County Judge Robert Griffin.
In a July 26 article from the “The Chronicle of Higher Education” entitled “Could Political Rhetoric Turn into Campus Violence?”, the article’s author, Alexander C. Kafka, also quotes King as saying Lyon has had to deal with active Klan chapters in the Batesville area.
King is quoted by Kafka as saying the Batesville-based school is surrounded by an “angry, disenfranchised” population with “a large white-supremacist population.”
The article also features King describing an alleged November 2020 rally at Lyon in support of President Donald Trump that King said drew “thousands of people” to Batesville, some of which had confederate flags and neo-Nazi symbols. The article quotes King telling Kafka of the rally crowd: “Think Capitol mob minus the ‘QAnon Shaman.’”
In a statement posted Aug. 21 on the Lyon College website, King said he was misquoted regarding the latter event.
“This did not happen, and my staff and I are working with the article’s author to issue a correction,” King says in the statement. “I apologize for this error.” (Scroll below to read the full statement.)
As for his comments noting Lyon and the town’s community being a “bubble of inclusion and of diversity surrounded by a sea of angry, disenfranchised populations and a large white-supremacist population,” King says in the statement: “While Lyon and the surrounding Batesville community might be welcoming and inclusive, we cannot pretend to expect the same in all areas of the state.”
A post on the Lyon College Facebook page featuring King’s statement currently features comments from a number of readers who objected to King’s reported quotes in The Chronicle article.
One post noted King’s view of the surrounding area/state is “the exact reason he has no relationship with the community.”
In a statement posted on Independence County Judge Robert Griffin’s Facebook page, Griffin says: “There are apparently untrue and hurtful things said about our community and Lyon College as reported by a publication, The Chronicle of Higher Education. The current president of Lyon is who reportedly made these comments. Just be aware his quotes are inflammatory and are not reflective of our community. Prayers for Lyon and our community.”
Griffin included a link to a post from blogger Shannon Haney who first drew local attention to The Chronicle’s article.
To read Haney’s article, click here.
Click here for the original article from “The Chronicle of Higher Education.”
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