“Liberalism isn’t a sin”

THIS HEARTWARMING STORY was mentioned in yesterday's Inside Higher Ed: Regent student gets flak for Robertson photo on Web site:

Regent University officials have threatened to discipline a law student for posting on his Facebook page an unflattering photo of Regent President Pat Robertson. [See below.] ¶ The student, Adam M. Key, defended his action as constitutionally protected free speech in a 14-page legal brief he presented to the dean of the law school. ¶ …Key, a second-year law student, said he refused to apologize and “be muzzled” by the university, so he composed the document, which includes citations from noted First Amendment cases. ¶ …Key said that Jeffrey Brauch, dean of the law school, rejected his brief and that he now awaits disciplinary action under the university’s Standard of Personal Conduct. At one point during the controversy, Key said, he was escorted by three armed security guards from the university’s public relations office. ¶ …In earlier Internet postings, Key has criticized public statements Robertson has made, including a suggestion in 2005 that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez should be assassinated. He said he posted the Robertson photo in the spirit of satire and is protected under the First Amendment. ¶ …Unlike public institutions, private universities do not have to adhere to First Amendment guarantees in enacting codes of student conduct, said Howard Wasserman, visiting associate professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law.

“But in my view, any university, in its role as a place for robust and uninhibited debate, should commit itself to the principles of the First Amendment, even if it offends the president,” said Wasserman, who has written about free-speech issues. He noted that Regent, as a Christian school, “may have a different view of how the speech issue fits into its mission.” ¶ …Wasserman said Harvard University, like Regent a private institution, probably wouldn’t take such an action against a student “because they know faculty members would be outraged and there would be public ridicule.” ¶ He characterized a university punishing a student for posting satire on his personal Web page as “a dangerous action.”…“The more the power structure starts to get at private expression, the more it looks like they’re engaging in thought control,” he said. ¶ Key, a bearded 23-year-old with a tableau of tattoos, would seem an odd fit at the evangelical Christian institution Robertson founded in 1978…[He]…describes himself as a “liberal Christian” who heads the campus’ small “Christian Left” organization. ¶ …Key, who is from Texas, said he had wanted to attend a Christian institution with a law school accredited by the American Bar Association, such as Regent. One motivating factor, he said, was “the opportunity to show people that liberalism isn’t a sin.” ¶ ...“A lot of people at Regent are afraid to speak out,” [Key]…said. “They’re fearful of criticizing Pat. They know that if they did, they’d be gone. … “At the point in time where we become afraid, we start losing the things that make us Americans.”

See also:
BNP leader and Holocaust denier invited to Oxford Union