3 ms·

Classic "I thought the 1st Amendment shielded me from all consequences" reasoning.

• bee_rider 4y ago
  Not in this case. See page 6 of BGSU’s own policy. They explicitly have stated that speech which is protected by the First Amendment is not harassment. Whether this is a good policy or not is definitely debatable, but it is their policy. https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/general-counsel/documents/BGSU-Freedom-of-Expression.pdf https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/general-counsel/docume...
  • kjs3 4y ago
    You missed the point. There's a certain world view that thinks the 1st Amendment means one can say whatever one wants and that the 1st Amendment protects them from any consequence of that. That isn't what the 1st Amendment is about, regardless of what this guy thinks.
    • blendergeek 4y ago
      The first amendment says the government cannot punish you for speech. BGSU is a state university and is therefore an arm of the government. BGSU therefore cannot punish you for protected speech.
      • dragonwriter 4y ago
        Public employers can, in fact, punish you for workplace speech, even, in many cases, where that speech would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment. The 1st Amendment does not entitle you to use of public time and resources to conduct activism outside of your job duties.
      • kjs3 4y ago
        Did you even take one second to read what I wrote? Maybe do that before you kneejerk post. Hint: nothing I wrote was about the University.
    • bee_rider 4y ago
      I don’t think I missed the point, or if I did, it was a non-sequitur. I’m familiar with that worldview, and yeah it is dumb, but it isn’t being espoused by anyone in this particular situation. The university has a policy that freedom of expression must be preserved. The only exception they list is harassment. Their policy, written to comply with Ohio law, is that speech which would be protected by the first amendment does not constitute harassment. Is that a good policy? I suspect there are situations that it doesn’t handle well. But it is spelled out pretty clearly on page 6 of the link I provided. They seem to have put themselves in a position where they can’t punish people for speech, unless it falls outside the range of speech that would be covered by the first amendment.
• kodyo 4y ago
  The more this crap happens, the less legitimate academia becomes. Which is fine because intellectuals are pretty useless.