Scott Tibbs
blog post
July 29th, 2005
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Wendy McElroy details another violation of free speech rights by university administrators, this time by William Paterson University in New Jersey.
Basically, a student/employee of the university got an unsolicited e-mail advertising a homosexual event. He replied to the e-mail (which encouraged replies) and said he disapproved of the event and wanted to be taken off the e-mail list. For this, he was disciplined by the university.
So a Leftist organization on campus has the right to send an unsolicited e-mail to Jihad Daniel and invite a reply, but Daniel does not have the right to reply, disapprove, and ask to not be sent further e-mails?
That the state Attorney General Peter Harvey got involved to defend this travesty of justice is an outrage. Harvey is abusing his power and should be removed from office. Thankfully, freedom-loving organizations like FIRE are standing up for individual rights in the face of the dissent-hating Left.
If anyone should be disciplined here, it is Arlene Holpp Scala, who filed a frivolous claim whining and crying that someone disagreed with her event. It is stupid to argue that Daniel's e-mail in any way created a hostile work environment or was "harassment". Crybabies who disrupt the workplace because they cannot handle dissent should be told to "live with it" or face discipline.
Finally, this brought to my mind the futility of the "Academic Bill of Rights" promoted by David Horowitz and others. If Leftist administrations are already ignoring limitations placed on them by the law and by the Constitution, what makes you think they will pay any attention to another law? The answer is for state legislatures to grow a spine and knock universities down a notch or two, as Hoosier state representative Woody Burton did in the mid-1990's.