More anti-free speech shenanigans in academia, this time at Southwestern College in California, where faculty members participating in a protest were de facto suspended for voicing their opinions. It’s a good thing that a group like the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) exists to document this sort of nonsense.
According to FIRE, On Oct. 22, a group of students assembled on Southwestern College’s “free speech patio” to protest class and budget cuts at the college. Joined by three faculty members, the students proceeded to the courtyard outside the president’s office, where they were met and eventually dispersed by, several police officers.
That evening, each of the three faculty members received a letter from the college’s director of human resources — hand-delivered from the author, who was accompanied by a police officer. Each letter’s surprise ending? Each was being placed on administrative leave from the college and banned from campus.
The college allows the faculty members to return to campus and graciously asked that the criminal investigation be dropped. However, the school reprimanded them on the basis of an allegedly independent investigation which found that they were “physically aggressive.”
Witnesses dispute the charge. But head over to Greg Lukianoff’s post to read the details. Without question, colleges public and private alike need to stop this lunacy about limiting free speech to a defined zone and instead treat their students (and faculty) like the grownups they are.
Besides: It’s California — isn’t protesting a major in the California university system?
