From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed:The Alliance Defense Fund has sued the Los Angeles Community College District on behalf of a student [a Mr. Lopez] at Los Angeles City College who charges that his public speaking professor [a Mr. Matteson] called him a “fascist bastard” for a speech during which the student read a dictionary definition of marriage and two Bible passages.
The suit, which charges censorship of “Christian speech” in violation of the First Amendment, said that the instructor also refused to grade the speech, writing on an evaluation form that the student should “Ask God what your grade is.”
…
A letter from the college to the Alliance Defense Fund, sent prior to the lawsuit being filed, said that “action is being taken” against the professor involved, but that privacy rules barred the college from disclosing what was happening. The letter ... said that the college viewed the incident as “extremely serious.”
The letter, from Academic Affairs Dean Allison Jones, fills in some details:
I received statements from two students which were signed by several members of Mr. Lopez’ class. Contrary to Mr. Lopez’ assumptions, these classmates were deeply offended by his speech. One of the students stated that “His speech was not of the informative style that our assignment called for, but rather a preachy, persuasive speech that was completely inappropriate and deeply offensive. I respect his right to freedom of speech, but I also do not believe that our classroom is the proper platform for him to spout his hateful propaganda.”
The second student said “I don’t know what kind of actions can be taken in this situation, but I expect that this student should have to pay some price for preaching hate in the classroom.”
Where do we go from here? Regardless of the other students’ reactions to Mr. Lopez’ speech, Mr. Matteson will still be disciplined. First amendment rights will not be violated as is evidenced by the fact that even though many of the students were offended by Mr. Lopez’ speech, no action will be taken against any of them for expressing their opinions….
I don't get it. Why would action be taken against these students?
It's hard to see how Matteson's calling Lopez a "fascist bastard" could be appropriate in a classroom. It would be understandable, I suppose, if Lopez had just called Matteson a "mother f*ckin' t*tty s*ckin' two ball b*tch with a ping pong p*ssy and a rubber d*ck."*
That stuff will piss a guy off.
The "ask God" note seems plainly unprofessional, but, again, I'd like to know the context. Maybe Lopez had just picked up a phone, listened to it, and said, "It's God, you h*mo atheist rat bastard. He wants to know my friggin' grade!"
Context is important, you know.
*In grad school, one colleague's lovely and sweet Christian wife would occasionally use this phrase. Wow. I never forgot it.
