Matthew Carroll’s Kafkaesque Journey Through Woke Purgatory

Matthew Carroll, an event coordinator with the Office of Student Affairs, was in his office at the University of Virginia on April 12, 2023, when a professor in Garrett Hall called to say that someone outside the building was playing music so loudly that he couldn’t teach. Student Affairs needed to fix the problem. Pronto.

Carroll and a colleague hustled over to Garrett Hall. Several students had set up a table to conduct a fundraiser and were blasting out loud music. Explaining that they had not obtained a permit to set up at that location, did not have an approved table, and were not authorized to use amplified sound, he told them to move.

The students, who belonged to the Central Americans for Empowerment at UVA (CAFE), reacted defensively. They accused Carroll of being belligerent and disrespectful.

After a brief standoff, the students packed up their gear and departed. Carroll returned to the office and recounted the incident to his boss. He didn’t think much about it until the next day when he discovered that the confrontation had blown up on social media. People were assailing him as a racist and calling for him to be fired.

Six days later, UVA placed Carroll on administrative leave, made him turn in his work keys and laptop, and issued a No Trespass Order blocking him from setting foot on Grounds until an investigation could be completed. Despite their violation of University rules and disruption of other students’ classes, CAFE members received no sanction whatsoever.

Carroll engaged an attorney who negotiated a deal in which he would retain his title, keep the same pay, and transfer to another office in UVA’s sprawling bureaucracy.

Within a half year, he was fired.

Carroll’s story provides a look into administrative dysfunction at UVA. Imagine Franz Kafka’s surreal ordeal set in a woke bureaucracy… where due process for underlings does not exist… and where supervisors live in dread of the Twitter Outrage Mob.

The fate that befell Carroll, a tall young man with a head of bushy reddish-blond hair, cannot be blamed on “diversity, equity and inclusion” directly, but the incident underscores the double standards inspired by DEI’s oppressor/oppressed ideology when applied in disputes involving UVA students, faculty members and staff.

You will not find the double standards inscribed on UVA’s website. You will not find them elucidated in official written documents distributed to the Board of Visitors or accessible through the Freedom of Information Act. They are visible mainly in actions and conversations that take place out of the public eye. In this article, you will read what “DEI” looks like when applied in one real-world situation. But the treatment meted out to Matthew Carroll was no isolated instance. It reflected a pattern of behavior that the Board of Visitors needs to uproot if it is to carry out President Trump’s executive order to eliminate racial preferences at UVA.

First, some background in the interest of full disclosure: The Jefferson Council learned of Carroll’s 2023 ordeal when a friend of his tipped us off only a few days after it began. We wrote an article for publication on the Jefferson Council blog but withheld it at the request of Carroll’s attorney during negotiations with UVA. When Carroll reached a settlement with the University, moving him to a different job, we kept a lid on the story to avoid jeopardizing his employment. It was only in the past month, when we discovered that he no longer worked for UVA and no longer had reason to fear retribution, that we have felt free to tell his tale.

Matthew Carroll, a fourth-year student and English major, first took a job in July 2022 in the Office of Student Affairs. He was given the title of Event Planning Assistant. When members of the university community wanted to book space for an event in University ballrooms, meeting spaces, classrooms, and auditoriums, he would consult the events database to see which venues were available. As part of his job, he enforced UVA’s “General Policies” for utilizing university facilities.

The General Policies’ extensive guidelines cover everything from fees, food and security to animals, alcohol, strobe lights, inflatables, banners, glitter, silly string, fog machines and fireworks.

The Event Planning Office offers a service called “tabling,” in which student CIOs (contracted independent organizations) come to the Newcomb Hall Service Desk, check out a physical table and take it to a designated location. Typically, CIOs use tables to pass out information flyers to students walking between classes. Tabling locations under the domain of the Office of Student Affairs are limited to the Lawn, the plazas surrounding Newcomb Hall, the second floor of Newcomb Hall and the plaza in front of the Forum at O’Hill.

The university’s Amplified Sound policy restricts the use of loudspeakers. To ensure students don’t disturb academic activities, Student Affairs requires anyone wishing to use large music speakers or loudspeakers on the grounds to fill out a form. Amplified sound is generally forbidden during the day before 5:00 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. Noise levels are limited to 97 decibels “with quick bursts up to 100 decibels.”

Carroll quickly mastered the regulations and proved adept at juggling the competing demands for space. He was so good that in October he was promoted to Event Coordinator and given supervisory authority over 60 student workers. Scheduling dozens of events daily, he was called in to deal with crazy situations like people bringing animals on Grounds and things catching fire. By February, his boss told him that he was in line to be promoted again that fall, this time to Assistant Event Director.

As it turned out, he never got that second promotion. On April 12, a group of CAFE students set up a table outside Garret Hall, and life for Carroll would never be the same.

CAFE is an officially recognized student CIO, and currently lists 10 members on its website. The mission statement is permeated with the vocabulary of oppressed/oppressor ideology.

Our mission is to create an inclusive space for Central American folx in an effort to increase visibility and representation of the diversity within the Latinx community at the University of Virginia. CAFÉ will strive to center the intersectional identities related to Central America, while being cognizant of the greater Latin American region/communities on Grounds….

The CAFE leader was Tony Guevara, a campus activist and social media influencer with 44,000 Twitter followers at the time. His commentary focused mainly on matters relating to Hispanic identity, some of it taking the form of rants addressed to White people whom he perceived as ignorant about or bigoted toward Hispanics.

Following the encounter with Carroll, Guevera issued the following tweets from his now-defunct Twitter (X) account, tony@cerotex:

THIS HAPPENED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. CAFÉ (the Central American organization on campus) was doing a fundraiser when we approached by two WHITE people coming to kick us out while yelling at us and accusing us of making up our own rules and staring us down until we moved. he ALSO insinuated that we weren’t an ACTUAL organization, which never happens to the acapella, frat, and sports groups. we asked him to stop yelling at us and he proceeded to call us liars

and said we were creating a situation out of nothing, mind you we just asked for clarification on the rules and he continued to raise his voice, say “you can contact whoever you want” when we asked for his name. we then asked him to give us space in order to move and he said he was going STAY there and watch us leave, when the WHITE organizations wouldn’t call it a hate crime, but the fact that there were 8 of us yet both of them are calling EIGHT of us liars is insane considering we just found out not even both the white people’s stories don’t even line up with each otheralso they forget this is a public university he could’ve asked us nicely to leave but he came at us aggressive from the start like???

i also just find out he called our setup “tacky” in private texts with others. now ur just being weird, talking shit about students cause we’re an organization full of low income students sorry we couldn’t have a fancy table like???classist and microaggresive pick a struggle

By the next day the tweet had generated more than 750,000 views.

Bacon’s Rebellion attempted to contact Guevera through an email address at Gen-Z X El Cambio, a California-based Latino website where he is listed as director, but received no response.

Carroll contested Guevara’s version of the incident and provided context for his actions.

Around 2:30 p.m., April 12, a student worker in Newcomb Hall asked Carroll to come to her information desk. She informed him that someone from the Batten School had called to demand that Student Affairs do something about a group of students tabling directly in front of the school and playing music so loud that it was disrupting classes. Carroll resolved to deal with the situation immediately. As he and a fellow staff member neared the Batten School, they could hear the music from far away. Approaching the source of the music, they saw a group of eight or more students who had set up a table — one that Newcomb Hall had not provided or permitted.

“I approached the group and told them that they had to immediately turn off their music because they were causing a disturbance to the nearby academic buildings,” Carroll says. “The music was so loud that I had to repeat myself multiple times. The group did not immediately turn off the music but eventually did after I asked them a few more times.”

He informed them that they were violating other university policies as well. The group took offense. According to an account obtained by The Jefferson Council:

The group then began to say things such as “Bro, why are you having a melt down?” and other provocative statements. They then also told me that, “I am going to email [Batten School] Dean [Ian] Solomon about this!” I told them that they were welcome to do so, but in the meantime, they would have to keep the music off and relocate to a designated tabling location.

They then switched topics and told me that since they had seen other groups table in front of Batten, this then meant that they were allowed to do so. I told them that, while I did believe them that they had seen other groups tabling in front of Batten, it is not okay for other groups to table in front of Batten.

I then asked them the following question, “Are you a registered CIO?” This question, with that exact wording, is what I ask students multiple times a day. In order to check out a table from the Service desk, my student workers always ask, “Are you a registered CIO?” Additionally, in order to reserve a Student Affairs venue, students must be a part of a registered CIO. I mention all of this because when I asked the group, “Are you a registered CIO?” they immediately became more defensive. They told me that they were a registered CIO known as CAFE. I replied by saying, “Okay.” They then said that if I did not believe them, then I could go look it up. I told them that I believed them.

CAFE took down the table… and took to social media. Guevara provided the most detailed account of the encounter, but others weighed in. One member of the group, Annalise Keating, tweeted that the group had been “hate crimed by the events coordinator at UVa.”

A user on Twitter replied to her tweet, saying, “That is not what a hate crime is LOL.” Keating responded, “Right because calling us sp*cs and f*gs is. So shut your face.”

Carroll denies having used the pejorative terms, and he denies calling anyone in the group a liar.

When Guevara blasted out his tweet, including a video clip of the confrontation, the messages went viral overnight. (Bacon’s Rebellion has been unable to recover the video.) Responders to his tweets referred to Carroll with insults and/or derogatory racial terms. Some examples:

“I do not support all redheads. some of you gingers are very dumb!!!”

“he standing exactly how I envision a white racist man would stand”

One tweeter called him a “wack ass white man.”

Carroll received this message through the UVa space-rental portal: “You are racist scum. Leave those Latino students alone. I’m tired of you white people always trying to bring down people of color. I pray you lose your job … you racist Neanderthal.”

Then there was this from a former classmate:

OMG he was in my poetry class last semester [corrected in a subsequent tweet to last year] i hate him so much. we read a lot of poems from poc authors and lots of stuff that incorporated other languages and he said that the only writing that qualified as “real poetry” is english poetry written in iambic pentameter.

That tweet received 373 “likes.”

Other tweets called for retribution:

“End him,” said one.

“Just jump him tf y’all sharing, for JUMP HIM let violence solve it”

“Just jump them how else they finna learn”

“wack his ugly a$$ again for me!”

“@UVA plz fire this imbecile”

The Twitter Outrage Mob also lambasted the few individuals who spoke in Carroll’s defense. One, a co-worker, testified online that she had never experienced any prejudice from Carroll. A Twitter commenter put her down as a “rich white Venezuelan,” adding in a subsequent tweet that “white Latinos are insane.”

The threats of violence were disquieting, but what bothered Carroll the most was Guevara’s tweet replicating Facebook images of his father, a disabled veteran. The message shows the elder Carroll and fellow veterans standing in front of a Trump/Pence sign. Tweeted Guevara: “The puzzle pieces are fitting together…. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

According to Carroll, the day after the encounter with the CAFE tablers, he discussed the incident with his supervisor. By way of background, he had complained “dozens of times” about needless red tape and argued for streamlining the rules to make it easier for students to host events. Despite his dissatisfaction with the system, he did his best to enforce the rules.

In the meeting the next day, the topic came up again. “Well, you know you can be an asshole” about enforcing the rules, the supervisor said.

Referring to the CAFE students, the supervisor also said that Carroll needed to work on his “tone.”

“He said I should have been kinder. I should have approached them differently,” Carroll says. He summarized the supervisor’s attitude this way: “The CAFE students were people of color. When a CIO is predominantly students of color, you have to be nicer to them because they have had different experiences.”

Carroll challenged his boss, saying that it was inappropriate to treat student groups differently based on their race or ethnicity.

“I know you have disagreements about DEI, but that is the way the University works. It’s not a matter of debate,” said the supervisor, as Carroll paraphrased him. “You must always treat students based on our DEI guidelines.”

Around that time, two of Carroll’s superiors at Student Affairs scheduled a meeting for him to meet his accusers and establish a dialogue in the hope of laying the controversy to rest. They ended up holding that meeting, but Carroll was excluded. Throughout the ordeal, he was never given a chance to meet or question his accusers.

Carroll believes that two other identity-based student groups — one a Muslim group and one an LGBQT group — piled on with stories of poor treatment at his hands. The substance of their comments has not been made public, so he cannot address any allegations they might have made with any authority. However, he recalls informing one of the groups that they had to use chairs with rubber guards on the feet to avoid scratching the ballroom floor, as university regulations required of all students. The group complied, and that was the end of the story, so he is mystified what their complaint might have been.

Carroll felt no support from his superiors, who never sought his version of the encounter to cross-check against CAFE’s allegations. He informed administrators in UVA’s HR department about the online harassment and threats of violence against him, and wondered if he might qualify for extra security when walking around Grounds. Their response: If he felt unsafe, he should use the “buddy system.”

As Student Affairs grappled with a fluid and evolving situation, Carroll was given reason to think at one point that he might be forced to undergo Diversity, Equity & Inclusion training as penance for his actions. But that option never panned out. His predicament was more perilous than he realized.

On April 18, his boss sent him a letter informing him that he had been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the Standards of Conduct 1.60. Stated his supervisor in the letter: “Your responsibility during this time is to cooperate with myself and all other University officials as we work to complete our investigation into this matter.”

The stated purpose of Standards of Conduct 1.60 was to “promote the well-being of [the Commonwealth’s] employees by maintaining high standards of work performance and professional conduct with an overall emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion that promotes equitable treatment of all employees.”

The document laid out the disciplinary process used to address “unacceptable behavior [and] conduct.” Employees of state agencies must “demonstrate respect” for others, including students and customers. The process calls for multiple levels of corrective action, from verbal counseling to written counseling to formal written notices. However, “an employee’s legal counsel may not attend or participate in the internal discussions or investigative meetings to determine the facts or if violations have occurred.”

Prior to the issuance of a formal Written Notice, employees must be notified of the offense and an explanation of the evidence supporting the charge. Employees must be given “a reasonable opportunity to respond, according to the Standards of Conduct. “Typically, a 24-hour period is a sufficient period of time,” so more or less time may be granted.

After being informed by letter of his administrative leave, Carroll never again heard directly from either supervisors or investigators. At this stage, before finding an attorney to represent him, Carroll felt bewildered and abandoned. No one informed him of what he was alleged to have done wrong. He was never given a chance to tell his side of the story. He was never allowed to confront or cross-examine his accusers.

It was as if he was presumed guilty — of what wasn’t clear — until proven innocent.

Bacon’s Rebellion attempted to contact Carroll’s supervisor by email but received no response.

“I did nothing wrong. The CAFE students were ignoring the rules, and I was enforcing university regulations,” he said at the time. “I’ve been insulted and threatened on social media. Now I’m the one under investigation?”

On the day he was banned from the Grounds, Carroll walked through the Lawn, perhaps for the last time, as workers were setting up for final exercises. Thinking how much he loved UVA, he paused to look at the Rotunda and thought, “I may never see her again.”

Obtaining legal representation changed the dynamic. Carroll’s attorney, a Charlottesville lawyer specializing in employment-rights law, pushed back. His bosses changed their tune. They insisted they were not retaliating against him: they were eliminating the event coordinator position in Student Affairs. After extended negotiations, UVA agreed to transfer Carroll to another position in the UVA bureaucracy with the same title, pay and benefits.

And, so, Carroll began working for a UVA-affiliated nonprofit that focuses on alcohol- and substance-abuse issues on college campuses. Locally, the Center works with UVA to curb excess drinking and put on anti-hazing sessions. Carroll filled a vacant slot to organize two big national events each year.

It was a dicey situation. For starters, the previous person doing the job had been working only 16 to 20 hours a week, and money for Carroll’s full-time job was not in the budget — as his new boss reminded him on more than one occasion. There was so little for him to do that on his own initiative, Carroll looked for ways to earn his pay. He started cold-calling prospects, for example, to boost attendance.

Another touchy matter was the director’s wokeness. Carroll recalls an incident in which she expressed disappointment in the attendance of a UVA event where 30 kids showed up on a Tuesday evening. “There were too many white people,” he quotes her as saying. Fearing that he might offend some taboo if he said anything, he just kept his head down and focused on his job.

In December, his new boss called him into her office. “It’s not a good fit,” she said.

As Carroll saw it, there was no point in fighting the decision to fire him. It wasn’t a good fit. What’s more, he had few legal protections. UVA had put him on probational status when he was first hired, kept him on probationary status when he was promoted, and then tagged him with probational status again when he transferred to the nonprofit job. Probationary employees have no rights, he says. UVA treats them as if they are “sub-human.”

Bacon’s Rebellion attempted to contact the nonprofit director by email but received no response.

Carroll’s employment experience at UVA left a bad taste in his mouth, but he is not inclined to self-pity. He found work in the Charlottesville private sector, and he has been admitted to law school this fall. Still, UVA’s double standards do rankle.

“If the roles were reversed and the students of color received death threats and were called to leave the University, every resource would have been offered to them. The [UVA] President himself would have met with them,” Carroll says.

He had no expectation that the University would punish the CAFE students for violating the rules and dishing out racial insults — woke administrators just don’t hold woke students accountable. But at the very least, after the incident had blown up on social media, his bosses could have (a) stated publicly that he had not committed a hate crime; and (b) insisted that Tony Guevara take down posts calling him a racist and doxxing his family.

As it happens, the tweets and posts did come down. But UVA had nothing to do with it. Guevara shut down his X account after being accused of making anti-Black and anti-Mexican statements online. He went on to become a TikTok influencer, was lauded in the media, and earned enough money from branding deals to pay for better cuisine and travel to other schools to set up other Central American organizations. Currently, he works for Gen-Z for Change, which mobilizes “LatinX” youth for left-wing political causes.

James A. Bacon was executive director of the Jefferson Council when the events in this article were unfolding.