Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly "Metro"

[D Rusak]

http://philly(dot)metro(dot)us

CENTER CITY - According to Temple University professor Gregory Urwin, former graduate student Christian DeJohn just “had trouble meeting the mark". And U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell agreed.
Dalzell ruled in favor of Temple yesterday in the latest case concerning the increasingly hot-button issue of academic freedom. DeJohn was suing the school because he claimed Urwin, professor Richard Immerman and Temple conspired to prevent him from receiving his master’s degree because of his political views and suppressed his free speech. But Temple’s defense says DeJohn is simply upset that his thesis was harshly critiqued by Urwin and refused to fix it.
“It’s unfortunate that it came to this," Temple’s attorney Joe Tucker said. “He should just man up and write an acceptable thesis."
Attorney David French, arguing in favor of DeJohn, said that Temple had chilled DeJohn’s free speech in many instances, stemming back to a 2002 e-mail exchange with Immerman while DeJohn was on active duty in Bosnia. The judge said there was “not a scintilla of evidence" to support such claims.
Tucker asserts that French, an attorney for a Christian legal organization called the Alliance Defense Fund, treated his client as a pawn in furthering the group’s cause.
“It looks like DeJohn was used by his lawyers for their own agenda," Tucker said. “The ADF seems to believe that there is a liberal bias in American universities and frankly it’s just not true."
Urwin agrees, calling the ordeal “a political show trial."
“I don’t think anyone’s interests were well-served here," he said shortly after Dalzell’s ruling.
DeJohn did not return calls for comment, but his attorney seemed cautiously optimistic about a possible future for the case.
“We’re disappointed and weighing our options on an appeal," French said after yesterday’s ruling.
Both sides will be filing petitions to the court for attorney fees.
----
DeJohn’s claims
• Urwin and Immerman discriminated against him because of his political beliefs.
• That the two professors willingly canceled his enrollment in the university while he was on military leave in Bosnia.
• His free speech was stifled in classroom discussions.
Judge Stewart Dalzell dismissed all claims due to lacking evidence, but did grant DeJohn $1 for a previous claim that Temple’s sexual harassment policy was unconstitutional.

Thankfully, some people are still using logic out there. However, this does seem to be a sign that more people are going to attack the educated (at universities or other academic institutions) for not being "fair enough"- something which, of course, any fair-minded person is going to bend over backwards to do, not realizing that they are being manipulated in the process.

Here's a link to another story on this trial that has some more (albeit incomplete) information
http://www(dot)campusreportonline(dot)net/main/articles.php?id=730

Notice how both authors try to get the reader to sympathise with the "repressed" conservative. Of course, one needs to know the quality of the student's work, which is not agreed upon in either of the articles.

It's also interesting that the ADF, who is representing the student, is holding open media interviews during the trial. Spin it to make it sound like you're the good guys....
http://www(dot)alliancedefensefund(dot)org/news/story.aspx?cid=4096

Here is a second article on new curfew centers that are being opened in the city

NICETOWN - A traveling roadshow took Mayor John Street across the city to open three curfew centers, including one here on Germantown Avenue, that officials said have begun already to drive down juvenile crime in other neighborhoods.

Touting a decrease in juvenile shootings in the Point Breeze neighborhood, where the first center was established last year, Street said they are not interested in arresting young people out past curfew.

“We bring them to the curfew center to find out who they are, what they’re doing out," he said. “But this is not a jail. They won’t be in handcuffs. ... they won’t be able to leave."
The Street caravan yesterday opened curfew centers in North Philadelphia on West Lehigh Avenue, in Frankford on Griscom Street and in Nicetown on Germantown Avenue.

In the eight months since the original Point Breeze curfew center opened in South Philadelphia, juvenile shootings in the surrounding two police districts have dropped from 38 to 20, officials said.
“Some of the parents are just not doing the right thing by their children," Street said.

Just getting the populace used to being questioned and detained and taken away, nothing to see here folks, move along......and targeting children, jeez!

Meanwhile, in Utah

Utah Allows Guns on College Campuses
by brock vergakis / associated press writer

APR 27, 2007 2:30 PM EDT
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Brent Tenney says he feels pretty safe when he goes to class at the University of Utah, but he takes no chances. He brings a loaded 9 mm semiautomatic with him every day.

"It's not that I run around scared all day long, but if something happens to me, I do want to be prepared," said the 24-year-old business major, who has a concealed-weapons permit and takes the handgun everywhere but church.

After the massacre at Virginia Tech that left 33 dead, some have suggested that the carnage might have been lower if a student or professor with a gun had stepped in.

As states and colleges across the country review their gun policies in light of the tragedy, many in Utah are proud to have the nation's only state law that expressly allows the carrying of concealed weapons at public colleges.

"If government can't protect you, you should have the right to protect yourself," said Republican state Sen. Michael Waddoups.

Utah legislators and law enforcement authorities said they knew of no modern-day shootings at the university. But one lawmaker cited a shooting rampage in Mississippi in 1997 as an example of how allowing others on campus to arm themselves can improve safety: After a teenager shot two students to death at Pearl High School, an assistant principal chased the gunman down outside and held him at bay with a .45-caliber pistol he kept in his truck.

Nationwide, 38 states -- including Virginia -- ban weapons at schools. Of those, 16 explicitly prohibit weapons on college campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In other states, each school is allowed to formulate its own policy.

For decades, the University of Utah banned concealed weapons.

"Our view was that there was an increased risk of both accidental and intentional discharge of a firearm if more firearms are present," said spokesman Fred Esplin. "It was a matter of safety."

But in 2004 the Legislature passed a law expressly saying the university is covered by a state law that allows concealed weapons on state property. The university challenged the law, but the Utah Supreme Court upheld it last year.

Utah is easily one of the most conservative states, and the Legislature is dominated by Republicans, many of whom have a libertarian streak. Utah has no motorcycle helmet law, for example, and there is strong affection for the Second Amendment.

The carrying of guns at the university worries students like Timmy Allin, a freshman on the tennis team from Dallas who feels safe on the 28,000-student urban campus. Allin was not aware weapons were allowed on campus until told by a reporter.

"I don't see the need for one up here, so that could only lead to trouble," he said.

Lawmakers point to a recent shooting at a downtown shopping mall as evidence that concealed weapons prevent additional deaths.

Armed with a shotgun and a pistol, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic randomly shot nine people at Trolley Square, killing five, on Feb. 12. He died in a shootout with police. An off-duty Ogden police officer carrying a concealed weapon -- in violation of mall policy -- pinned down Talovic with gunfire until other police arrived.

"Thankfully that officer disobeyed the rule of Trolley Square of having no guns," GOP state Rep. Curt Oda said.

Oda said banning guns on campus might do more harm than good. He said people bent on violence might resort to other, perhaps bloodier methods, such as swords.

"A person that's got skill with a sword in a very big crowd could put a lot more people down with a sword than a gun," he said. "They're silent. You'll have people screaming, but nobody knows what's going on."

Some of those who work at the University of Utah said they feel more secure because concealed weapons are allowed.

"What happened at Virginia Tech might have been stopped," said Christine Zabawa, a medical researcher at the university. However, she said it is a bad idea to allow guns in dormitories, and fears an accident could happen during a party on campus.

"Alcohol and guns. It's a bad combination," she said.

Justin Ligon, 23, a Virginia Tech student and vice president of the school's Pistol and Rifle Club, with about a dozen members who do their shooting at a public firing range, said the Blacksburg, Va., university should drop its prohibition on guns.

He said it is unlikely that bringing guns on campus would make school more dangerous.

"People with those permits, they go through a background check," he said. "Generally the people who go through that trouble aren't people who are gong to fly off the handle and do something dangerous."

So here you have the idea being propagated that people should have more guns on campus, even though university affiliates think "What happened at Virginia Tech might have been stopped" and that guns should not be allowed in dorms. Okay, where are resident students going to keep them, then? The idea that violence cancels out violence is also pushed here. The reference to carrying a sword is pretty much irrevalent- a sword is pretty hard to conceal anyway, and isn't that why people purchase silencers for guns? Well, I guess I should remember, "Generally the people who go through [the trouble of having a background check] aren't people who are going to fly off the handle and do something dangerous." I just hope I'm not around any Greenbaums, that's all.

Oh, and by the way, at the bottom of page 3 it mentions that three women were killed last night in South Philly. No biggie.

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

Temple University's Civil Rights Violations Are A Disgrace
by Chris Freind, the Philadelphia Bulletin

April 11, 2008

White males are not a protected class under the Constitution, and veterans do not have First Amendment rights. After all, their concerns should be ignored because they are "mentally unstable" from being "trained to kill." And disagreeing with one's professors can result in insults such as "gnat," "juvenile" "liar" and "fool." As far as academic freedom of speech, forget it.

Welcome to taxpayer-funded Temple University.

Temple finds itself at the center of a firestorm regarding an appalling case of squashed academic freedoms and restricted First Amendment rights. The victim of Temple's suffocating speech code is a graduate student simply trying to earn a master's degree in military history. He also happens to be one of our ultimate defenders of freedom, a decorated sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. This man's civil rights were violated, not overseas in a hostile fire zone but right back here in Philadelphia, birthplace of the nation and cradle of liberty. How's that for irony?

But since this is still the United States of America, and politically correct professors don't rule the day, this grave injustice is on track to be rectified. All it took was a huge dose of courage.

Meet Sgt. Christian DeJohn.

Sgt. DeJohn was called to active duty by the Army after the Sept. 11 attacks while attending Temple graduate school. When serving in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Temple did the unconscionable and sent him invitations to weekly "Dissent in America" anti-war "teach-ins," sponsored by Temple professors. Sgt. DeJohn objected and immediately became the target of retribution and retaliation—which continues to this day.

What did the university do? According to Sgt. DeJohn, he was dismissed from the school (later reinstated), was denied guidance and advice during his thesis completion, obstructed his graduation, contacted potential employers to sabotage his job search and even destroyed his personal credit by falsely reporting that he had graduated.

This situation led to Sgt. DeJohn testifying before the Pennsylvania Select Committee on Academic Freedom, which ultimately brought about reform referred to as "the biggest victory in the history of the academic freedom movement." He then filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to challenge the school's "speech codes," through which Temple claims it has the right to restrict and deny students' First Amendment rights. Sgt. DeJohn won, and a federal judge issued a permanent injunction against the speech codes. With its tail between its legs, Temple appealed, and arguments were heard on Thursday at the Federal Court of Appeals.

What's really troubling in this whole affair is that Temple, an institution of higher learning, is supposed to be run by intelligent, objective people. Yet they actually argued in court that Sgt. DeJohn was a "marginal learner, barely passing" with failing grades, knowing full well that he had a 3.2 GPA and had never received a grade lower than a B-minus. When called on this, the Temple attorney referenced the failing grade Sgt. DeJohn received—in high school. Go figure.

In a display of uncommon maturity, history department chair Richard Immerman wrote about his hope that Sgt. DeJohn will "self-destruct." In his "professional" critique of Sgt. DeJohn's 300-page thesis, Prof. Immerman wrote abusive comments such as these: "You use juvenile argumentation"; the thesis was "a monotonous agony"; Sgt. DeJohn sounded like a "crackpot"; and the thesis came across as a "comic book for five-year-olds."

If that's not constructive criticism fostered in an open atmosphere conducive to learning, I don't know what is.

Interestingly, this fight for academic freedom is not a partisan one. Sgt. DeJohn has allies across the spectrum who have filed amicus briefs with the court, from the ACLU and Feminists for Freedom of Expression to the Alliance Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

And Temple's allies? None. Nada. Can't imagine why.

When Sgt. DeJohn wins, his efforts and courage in the face of fire—both at home and abroad—will have resulted in a landmark case in the academic freedom movement.

Sir Edmund Burke stated, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Thanks to people like Sgt. Christian DeJohn, such evil is being vanquished, and he deserves our salute.

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

DeJohn v. Temple: The Facts of the Case
by Adam Kissel, FIRE

August 5, 2008

The precedential decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the case of DeJohn v. Temple focuses mainly on the unconstitutionality of Temple's abandoned speech code—which had been disguised, as so many schools are doing nowadays, as part of its sexual harassment policy.

The case probably would not even have been filed if Temple had not treated DeJohn so badly in the first place. Following DeJohn's complaint, here's what happened:

Christian DeJohn, a student in Temple University's Master of Arts in Military and American History program, was also a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard. DeJohn was deployed to Bosnia. While deployed, he received a number of anti-war e-mails from a history professor at Temple:

the e-mails were full of anti-war messages, information about campus "sit-ins," and demonstrations around campus protesting the Iraq war.

DeJohn expressed his displeasure with the e-mails, and Department of History e-mails then stopped coming. When it was time for him to return to school, he found that he had been dismissed from the university. As DeJohn tells it, Temple "failed to grant DeJohn military leave guaranteed by federal and state law" and "dismissed him from school (later claiming his dismissal was a ‘computer error')." This so-called error was corrected, and DeJohn returned to class in 2003.

DeJohn then took a course named Comparative History of Modern War during which the professor

consistently engaged in diatribes against the United States military in Iraq and the alleged failures of President Bush. As a veteran, DeJohn politely disagreed with many of [Professor Gregory] Urwin's characterizations. DeJohn's disagreements were in no way disruptive to the classroom environment.

That could have been the end of it—just some serious intellectual exchange over contentious political issues. But in retaliation for DeJohn's non-disruptive responses to the anti-war messages of his professors, he alleged, Temple then

refused to advise him during his thesis completion, personally and professionally denigrated him when evaluating his thesis, rejected his thesis without legitimate academic grounds, delayed his graduation three times,

and more. For instance, although DeJohn had been given permission to complete an accredited course elsewhere and have it transferred, Urwin declared that the course was inadequate and required him to read an additional five or six books on the subject (the Vietnam War) and write papers on them. Urwin, who was the appropriate one to advise DeJohn's master's thesis, soon declared (according to the complaint) "that he could no longer advise DeJohn on his thesis because he was too busy." After DeJohn submitted his thesis, the professor

commented that the thesis was "agonizing" and that DeJohn must suffer from "Alzheimer's disease." Urwin also wrote notes in the margins of DeJohn's thesis. He wrote that DeJohn sounds like a "crackpot," that his arguments are "absurd," that the thesis read like "a comic book for 5-year olds," that it was "amateurish," that it was "exaggerated melodrama," "juvenile melodrama," and "juvenile rhetoric," "monotonous agony," "juvenile argumentation," a "hissy fit in print,"

and more. DeJohn had apparently violated an unwritten rule about too many thesis advisors: if they don't like you or agree politically with your work, it's going to be harder to get them to stay on as your advisor and harder to have your work judged fairly. Because of the special relationship between advisor and student, a huge amount of discretion is afforded to the advisor, and unscrupulous advisors find it all too easy to abuse that discretion.

Judging the quality of academic work is often an extremely subjective enterprise, which is why courts would rather stay away from second-guessing university faculty. For this reason, not in a position to judge, I find it unsurprising that a court might dismiss charges against Temple that relate to Temple's treatment of DeJohn from an academic point of view. But this is no way means that Temple professors acted appropriately given the discretion with which they have been entrusted. Given the context of this case, I would think that Professor Urwin now might want to preserve his reputation and offer to have DeJohn's thesis reviewed by a more objective third-party panel.

As for Temple's unconstitutional speech code and the implications of the Third Circuit decision, see our upcoming blog series (all to be posted here) and earlier blog posts, and in particular see the amici brief filed by FIRE along with the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Christian Legal Society, Collegefreedom.org, Feminists for Free Expression, the Individual Rights Foundation, Students for Academic Freedom, and the Student Press Law Center.

It is often intimidating to speak out against the views of one's professors. But in an environment where speech has been chilled by an unconstitutional speech code—the Third Circuit has essentially said that Temple cannot be trusted to respect freedom of speech, even now, hence the injunction—and where DeJohn has suffered such treatment by members of Temple's Department of History, I think every student at Temple University ought to be warned: Temple University is not a safe place for you to speak out.

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

Sergeant Christian DeJohn and the Cost of Standing Up for Free Speech
by William Creeley, FIRE

September 17, 2007

Since filing our amicus brief, we must now await the Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in DeJohn v. Temple. While our brief focused primarily on the facial unconstitutionality of Temple’s former speech code and the danger of blurring the line between the rights enjoyed by high school students and those enjoyed by college students, it’s important to remember that the DeJohn in DeJohn v. Temple is a real person: Sergeant Christian DeJohn of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, a Temple masters’ student and member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, proud to have served overseas in Bosnia-Herzegovina (where he suffered disabling hearing loss), Egypt, and Korea.

After last week’s press release, Christian wrote FIRE, thanking us for supporting his claim—and more importantly, illustrating the terrible impact unconstitutional speech codes can have on the academic career and personal reputation of a student whose views are not shared by the majority. Expressing his frustrations about his treatment by both Temple and local Philadelphia media, Christian writes:

I appreciate that you and FIRE see the irony and hypocrisy of a decorated, disabled veteran who defended Bosnians’ individual rights overseas...seeing his most basic individual rights trampled on at home...in Philly, “the cradle of democracy,” no less.

I’m in total academic and professional limbo right now—Temple is refusing to evaluate my MA thesis, thus delaying my graduation, and Temple profs, as they admitted under oath, are actually contacting potential employers to blackball me and sabotage my job search, over this. So, your support is a godsend.

Defendant Immerman (Temple History Professor) has expressed in writing his hope that I “self destruct” for expressing concerns about academic freedom at Temple. Defendent Urwin (also a Temple History professor) has admitted under oath that Temple officials, including he, have contacted potential employers to blackball me over this.

You can also read his response to my First Amendment concerns—calling veterans “mentally imbalanced” because we are “trained to kill,” quite an unusual attitude for a professor of military history.

Both professors have referred to me in the press as a “failed” student, “marginal learner,” etc., though I have completed all 26 credits towards a Masters’ Degree in History, and have a 3.2 GPA at Temple. The Philly media has repeated the slander, but never asked to see my transcripts (let alone interview me).

[T]he Philly media’s treatment of this over the past two years has been an unrelieved nightmare. They either ignore it entirely, or repeat Temple’s slander verbatim without even contacting me. There have been Philadelphia Inquirer articles printed where they quote 3-4 Temple officials attacking me personally, but the Inquirer writer never speaks to me. The Inquirer has stooped so low as to refer to me as a failing student and a marginal learner in headlines, when I have a 3.2 GPA at Temple!

My story has never even remotely been told in Philly, so I truly appreciate your support. I’m hoping that if I risk all to protect OTHER people’s First Amendment rights, maybe I can get a fair shake in the courts, including the court of public opinion. I know you see the horrible irony of that, a veteran who has risked his life for foreigners overseas being denied basic First Amendment rights, and personally attacked by a Philly media that doesn’t even bother to speak to me, yet repeats Temple officials below-the-belt attacks on me.

But thanks to your continued support, and that of ADF and the other organizations, I’m hopeful that in the process of fighting for other student’s fundamental First Amendment rights, I might get a fair shake myself. All the more so because I’m a soldier and veteran, which makes me very aware of Constitutional rights and freedoms.

While taking a stand for free speech is vital for the health of our democracy, doing so often entails untold costs, as Christian’s story demonstrates all too clearly. That’s why it’s crucial to remember that when courts consider the constitutionality of speech codes on campus, every discussion of principle and precedent has a tremendous impact on the daily lives of real students.

As David French, Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund and former President of FIRE, reminded us in an April post on the case at Phi Beta Cons: “[E]very Temple student enjoys greater free speech rights as a result of Christian DeJohn’s stand. And for that, we owe him our thanks.”

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

Temple University Denies Degree to Decorated Vet
by Jenny DeHuff


April 10, 2008

The Philadlephia Bulletin

Sgt. Christian DeJohn and his attorneys squared off against Temple University before the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday morning in Center City.

Christian DeJohn v. Temple University questions free speech rights and whether a student's political opinions are a legitimate basis for denying him a degree from a state university.

Before a three-judge panel, Sgt. DeJohn's attorney, Nathan Kellum, tried to convince the judges that Temple's "speech codes" were unconstitutional.

Sgt. DeJohn, a graduate student at Temple and a sergeant in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, was repeatedly denied by school officials in his pursuit of a master's degree in military and American history after he was called to active duty to serve in Bosnia after 9/11.

While active in Bosnia, Sgt. DeJohn objected to invitations to weekly anti-war lectures by Temple professors as part of a series on "Dissent in America."

Although Sgt. DeJohn had applied for military leave from Temple, he returned to discover that he was no longer enrolled in the university, had not graduated, and his thesis was not on record.

In March 2007, Sgt. DeJohn filed a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the university's speech codes.

A federal judge issued a permanent injunction against the school's speech code, while also rejecting Temple's efforts to dismiss Sgt. DeJohn's claims that the school has withheld his degree because of his political and ideological perspective.

Sgt. DeJohn is seeking compensatory and punitive damages. He has garnered support of organizations including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, the Individual Rights Foundation, Feminists for Free Expression, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

A final decision is expected April 26.

 

[anart]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

Notice how both authors try to get the reader to sympathise with the "repressed" conservative.

Yep - and that describes the articles posted, with no comment, by 'tankercmd' -- so, 'tankercmd' - what's up?  It seems you have an agenda and are rather heavily invested in this - neither of which are encouraged on this forum.  An explanation would be appreciated.

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

FIRE Files Brief Opposing Unconstitutional Speech Code at Temple University
September 4, 2007

PHILADELPHIA, September 4, 2007—Today, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to uphold a decision by a lower court that Temple University’s former speech code is unconstitutional. Temple’s code prohibited, among other things, “generalized sexist remarks and behavior.”

The lawsuit against Temple University was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in February 2006 by attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) on behalf of Temple student Christian DeJohn. DeJohn’s complaint alleged both that Temple had engaged in actions that violated his rights and that Temple was violating the free speech rights of all of its students by maintaining an unconstitutional speech code. Temple actually revised its speech code during the course of the lawsuit, but in its appeal to the Third Circuit, it contends that its original policy was constitutional despite the District Court’s holding to the contrary.

“Since the 1980s, universities have tried to disguise unconstitutional speech codes as ‘harassment’ policies, but thankfully, courts have struck down such policies for decades,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “The continuing existence of unconstitutional speech codes at most colleges in the country is a national scandal. We urge the Court of Appeals to uphold the decision against Temple’s speech code and to continue to send the message to campuses that speech codes at public colleges flatly violate the First Amendment.”

FIRE’s amicus brief was joined by a remarkable coalition of organizations including the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Christian Legal Society, Collegefreedom.org, Feminists for Free Expression, the Individual Rights Foundation, Students for Academic Freedom, and the Student Press Law Center. The coalition was represented in the filing by attorney L. Theodore Hoppe, Jr.

In DeJohn v. Temple University, the District Court declared Temple University’s former speech code unconstitutional. On appeal, Temple is arguing that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Morse v. Frederick—a decision upholding the narrow right of high school administrators to regulate student speech “reasonably regarded as encouraging illegal drug use”—permits Temple to place broad and onerous restrictions on the free speech rights of college students.

FIRE’s brief argues that Temple’s policy contradicts both decades of legal precedent and the guidance of the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which is responsible for enforcing harassment laws on campus. If Temple’s policy were permitted to stand, it would gravely endanger the free speech rights of Temple students and exacerbate the existing free speech crisis on America’s college campuses.

“University administrations are increasingly trying to blur the vital distinction between the rights of university students and the rights of students in high school and below,” Lukianoff said. “It is simply unconscionable to treat university students—whose ages can range from eighteen to eighty, and almost all of whom can vote and serve our nation in war—as having no greater free speech rights than high school students. If the precedents which now so weakly protect the rights of high school students are suddenly applied to the university environment, campus free speech and academic freedom would be in serious jeopardy.”

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
~Mark Twain

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
~Winston Churchill

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore , all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
~G.B. Shaw, Man and Superman, 1903

Here in America we are descended in spirit from revolutionists and rebels - men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine.
~President Dwight D. Eisenhower, address, Columbia University, 31 May 1954

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path- and leave a trail.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

[TankerCMD]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \


I wasn;t aware that, according to you, one's First Amendment rights are contingent on one's polticla orientation! As a decorated, dissabled veteran who has risked my life to defend the free speech rights of ALL Americans of all political stripes, including members of this forum. I find that very torubling and sad.

Ironically, Temple U in this case played the label game, also implying that the First Amendment applies only to those of a liberal persuasion.

Hilariously, and tellingly, when a historic bipartisan coalition of 12 groups came out in support of us (Temple U was unable to find even ONE group willing to publicly support their contention that they can suspend college students' First Amendment rights at a whim)- including the American Civil Liberties Union and a feminist group, Temple immediatley dropped the "vast right-wing conspiracy" label!

 

[anart]

Re: Ill in the 'illa- 3 news stories in the Philly \

I wasn;t aware that, according to you, one's First Amendment rights are contingent on one's polticla orientation!

Nope, I never said that. I believe in First Amendment rights for everyone - most especially for those whose opinions conflict with my own. Could you please point out where you think that I said that?

As a decorated, dissabled veteran who has risked my life to defend the free speech rights of ALL Americans of all political stripes,

Yes, your agenda is showing.

including members of this forum. I find that very torubling and sad.

Well, considering the fact that I never said that, I have no idea what you find so 'troubling and sad'. Perhaps paying more attention to objective reality and less to your emotions might alleviate some of that 'trouble and sadness'?

Ironically, Temple U in this case played the label game, also implying that the First Amendment applies only to those of a liberal persuasion.

Could you please provide data to back up this statement? Objective data, not emotionally written articles with blatant slants.

Hilariously, and tellingly, when a historic bipartisan coalition of 12 groups came out in support of us

Ahhh! 'us' -- well, at least the truth is out there now.

(Temple U was unable to find even ONE group willing to publicly support their contention that they can suspend college students' First Amendment rights at a whim)- including the American Civil Liberties Union and a feminist group, Temple immediatley dropped the "vast right-wing conspiracy" label!

Without more data, I've no comment on that. Unfortunately, that data would have to be objective and from an unbiased source, so you might have difficulty providing it. As it stands, you came to this forum with an agenda and, judging from the enormous leaping to conclusions evidenced from your response to my post, you are incapable of being objective about this topic. Perhaps you'd find another forum more enjoyable.