Marquette Dental Student Suspended For Blogging

whiteSanjuro writes "Reported first by the bloggers, and now the mainstream press, is a story of a student being suspended by his university for the rest of the academic year because of entries in the student's blog which the university did not view favorably. It has already had some chilling effects and looks like it will be setting a standard that students at private universities aren't guaranteed free speech online. The student (who wishes to remain anonymous) is appealing the university's decision in an effort to remain in classes and finish out the current semester, but even the terms of re-admittance (pdf) leave the blogger subject to probation, minus a scholarship, and prohibit future free blogging. Perhaps now is the time to consider joining the EFF if you attend a private university and have a blog."

Comments

I went to Marquette for two years.

[stlhawkeye]

I signed up because I liked their line about Catholic/Jesuit values, not being just another number, and how they take care of their students. However, I had problems my freshman year and was struggling and the University actually threw up roadblocks to make it more difficult for me to seek help. I wanted to change majors and they wouldn't let me. This meant I had no access to an advisor who knew anything about the degree I wanted, and my current advisor was frustrated by the process. He even called the liberal arts college and demanded to know why I couldn't transfer. They said my GPA was too low to change majors, he said that was bullshit and told me that a more likely explanation is that I'm not on a scholarship and the Engineering college costs a lot more than the college of liberal arts. After a second year of much better grades but still being unable to change majors or get an advising appointment, I left.

Re:Refund

[Skjellifetti]

If a private university accepts Federal dollars (for research and maybe for student loan programs) they may indeed be subject to the First Amendment. The logic being something like "Federal $s are being used for supression of free speech." Accepting Fed money puts big restrictions on what an institution can do. There is a case that was argued before SCOTUS today that asks if university law schools can prevent military recruitment at their schools. The universities say yes since the military discriminates against gays in contravention of their policies. The Feds are arguing no since the universities take fed research dollars and the law requires equal access to students by the miltary if the institution takes federal money.

Re:Freedom is a two-way street

[Shamashmuddamiq]

Wrong. You've been beaten pretty badly by the PC police. Any private citizen or organization should be able to do business however they like. I should be able to refuse to do business with you because you don't pay your bills, because I don't like your hair color, or simply because you're annoying. In a real free market, someone else will gladly pick up the slack. Go buy from them.

Yes, racism is often a very bad thing. However, making it illegal sets a poor precedent, and erodes freedoms. What if I own an authentic chinese restaurant and I only want chinese people working there? There is nothing immoral about me turning away an Italian chef or a waitress from West Virginia.

You said racism should be illegal. Here's a nice quote from Thoreau's Civil Disobedience:

There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be the only slaves.

Now replace "slavery" in the above quote with "racism". Making racism illegal didn't advance racial equality one bit. And it only became illegal after the average joe citizen had already decided it was generally immoral. But when the government made racism illegal, we lost some of our freedoms.