6 ms·
A university pays $400K to professor who refused to use a student's pronouns
- kurupt213 5y agoThat’s a bit misleading
- _aavaa_ 5y agoYes. The university is not paying the professor because of refusing to use the pronouns, and the title heavily implies.
- rc_mob 5y agoI love NPR but holy fuck do they suck at headlines.
- wallfacer120 5y agoI think you should consider the possibility that they are not "sucking" at headlines here, but intentionally misleading their audience.
- Bud 5y agoThe headline doesn't imply that at all, actually. No causality is suggested here.
- _aavaa_ 5y ago- Professor says "Yes, sir" to student during a class. - Student asks them to use different pronouns, professor refuses - student files formal complaint with the school and school runs formal investigation - "The university determined that Meriwether created a "hostile environment" for the unnamed student, eventually placing a written warning in his personnel file and threatening "further corrective actions," according to ADF. - US Court of Appeals rules in favor of professor, "The court ruled that university officials violated the professor's free speech rights when they disciplined him." - University says that they "adamantly deny that anyone at Shawnee State deprived Dr. Meriwether of his free speech rights or his rights to freely exercise his religion" The university saying they did not deprive him of his free speech rights seems pretty false given the contents of the article.
- zozbot234 5y ago"Sir" is a style or manner of address, not a pronoun.
- threatofrain 5y agoHow far should free speech extend while you're on the job and talking to the customers of your employer?
- throw_m239339 5y ago> How far should free speech extend while you're on the job and talking to the customers of your employer? Students aren't customers. Otherwise professors would only issue good grades. Second if professors are deemed "employees" then employees have rights.
- deadbolt 5y agoExactly what right as an employee do you have which allows you to create a hostile environment for customers?
- throw_m239339 5y ago> Exactly what right as an employee do you have to create a hostile environment for customers? What right does the employer has to violate my religious rights? And students aren't customers.
- zug_zug 5y agoI guess it boils down to this: does calling a student by the wrong gender count as hostility or free speech? (And I guess student to teacher to) Whether the student is trans isn’t a pertinent factor, after all the government officially recognizes the right to change sex/gender (such as on your driver’s license)
- shard 5y agoIt certainly can count as both hostility and free speech. Often the most contentious examples of free speech are highly hostile: hate speech, for example. Therefore the context is rather, is this protected speech? A private company can discipline an employee for their speech in the name of the company, and that would be okay, since that is not protected speech. And the ruling by the court appears to be that this is indeed protected speech, in which case the free speech categorization trumps the hostility categorization.
- zug_zug 5y agoYou're missing the core of point which is -- does that mean a teacher calling your son "Ma'am" is also protected speech? If not, who/what is the official source-of-truth on which pronouns a teacher can use to a student? And then secondly, if a student dislikes it, and addresses the (male?) professor as Ma'am, does that student have equal protection from all consequences?
- shard 5y agoI think the core point is addressed: Based on the ruling, a teacher calling someone's son "Ma'am" should also be protected speech. The ruling makes no judgement on what the student can say, as the student is not an employee of the college. I would imagine that the college is able to enact consequences to the student's speech, and not run afoul of legal issues, but I am not a lawyer.
- Markjacqueline7 5y ago