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On September 16, 2021, two students of color wrote out the names of other non-white students on a whiteboard after class while brainstorming non-white students with whom to make friends. The next class saw the names and assumed those students were singled out for their race, later holding a protest. When the Theater Department’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee sent out an apology email, professor Steven ​​Earnest responded that the objecting students were being overly sensitive. After students called for Earnest’s firing, the university suspended him. ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵAPP¹ÙÍø wrote to Coastal Carolina on September 29, reminding the university that professors have the right to speak freely on matters of public concern, but received no response, and ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵAPP¹ÙÍø’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund provided Earnest with free legal counsel. Coastal Carolina confirmed on November 18 that Earnest could return to his teaching duties for the Spring 2022 semester.