Welcome to Marc Parlange, the University of Rhode Island’s new president. Now that you’ve had a few moments to get settled, there is an urgent matter requiring your attention: The honorary degree bestowed upon Michael Flynn by your predecessor must be rescinded. This retired Army lieutenant general is a QAnon supporter and a traitor, and not deserving of this or any honor. It brings shame on our state university. Flynn’s record of sedition includes:
December 2017 — Pleaded guilty (admitted under oath, in court) to lying to the FBI. (NYT 2020)
January 6, 2021 — Helped plan and promote the January 6th attack on the Capitol. (abc news)
June 1, 2021 — Flynn called for a military coup against the United States government, like the one in Myanmar, so the military could seize power and overthrow our democratically elected government. (CBS News, with video)
Responding to the Myanmar statement, Vote Vets joined with Major General (ret.) Paul Eaton in calling for Flynn to be recalled back to active duty and court-martialed for treason. (VoteVets)
June 24, 2021 — Outgoing URI President David Dooley decides Flynn deserves to keep his honorary degree. Dooley then moved to Montana where I’m sure he’s a big hero. (Daily Dose)
There is of course much more, but this should be enough.
A profile of President Marc Parlange in the summer issue of the URI Magazine ends with this quote:
“Every morning, I’ve been receiving the most fantastic emails from people at URI—with ideas, with energy, with enthusiasm—and they are ready to teach me about what they are doing,” he beams. “I hope those emails never stop.”
Yes, lots of emails. President Parlange, why don’t you take care of this early on and get it out of the way so you can get on with your own legacy; after all, you had nothing to do with this. Send the press release out on a Friday afternoon.
Twitter banned Flynn for life two days after the attack on the Capitol, so the bar is pretty low. Are we actually going to concede that Twitter has more integrity than URI?
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The man wants emails! But I can’t find his address.
[Additional note: His email is marc.parlange@uri.edu]
I’ll leave these up in case he does not respond:
Robin Cawley, Executive Assistant II
401.874.4411, robin_cawley@uri.edu
Lisa Harrison, Executive Assistant
401.874.4209, lharrison@uri.edu
The degree was undeserved even when it was awarded. His behavior since is a disgrace to the uniform he once worn. Somewhere somehow something went wrong in his head.