I felt so vehement about this, I did write the guy, and here is what I said. By the way, you shouldn't have to worry about being anonymous, that's what free speech is all about...
My name is Nathan Myron, and I am a college student from Ohio. As I was checking my RSS Newsreader earlier today, I noticed an article that I thought odd. About your college, and it's staff, have elected to suspend and possibly terminate a student, whose name has been withheld, because of something they said on a blog. Now, I can understand how students must keep up appropriate appearances, and not slander or harass the school or faculty, but what ever happened to free speech? Does that mean that, for instance, if I were to make a derogatory comment about a teacher of mine because of a term paper grade I thought inappropriate, I should be watching my back for Big Brother? The sad fact is, although you caught this one person "with their pants down" so to speak, what about the others? Because, as you should know, a college student's life isn't always the greatest, and there are always things being said. Are you going to post microphones in the locker rooms and bathrooms, trying to catch more slanderers? But, don't forget to hire some detectives, because someone is going to have to make sure they aren't saying any bad words while they're at the bar with their buddies. Where does the insanity end? The plain truth of the matter is, no matter what the kid said, it's not the end of the world, and it's not like thousands of other students don't say the same, or worse, every day. Someone is always going to be disgruntled, that's life. So long as no one is shooting anyone, it shouldn't be an issue.
Slashdot Mirror
I felt so vehement about this, I did write the guy, and here is what I said. By the way, you shouldn't have to worry about being anonymous, that's what free speech is all about...
My name is Nathan Myron, and I am a college student from Ohio. As I was checking my RSS Newsreader earlier today, I noticed an article that I thought odd. About your college, and it's staff, have elected to suspend and possibly terminate a student, whose name has been withheld, because of something they said on a blog. Now, I can understand how students must keep up appropriate appearances, and not slander or harass the school or faculty, but what ever happened to free speech? Does that mean that, for instance, if I were to make a derogatory comment about a teacher of mine because of a term paper grade I thought inappropriate, I should be watching my back for Big Brother? The sad fact is, although you caught this one person "with their pants down" so to speak, what about the others? Because, as you should know, a college student's life isn't always the greatest, and there are always things being said. Are you going to post microphones in the locker rooms and bathrooms, trying to catch more slanderers? But, don't forget to hire some detectives, because someone is going to have to make sure they aren't saying any bad words while they're at the bar with their buddies. Where does the insanity end? The plain truth of the matter is, no matter what the kid said, it's not the end of the world, and it's not like thousands of other students don't say the same, or worse, every day. Someone is always going to be disgruntled, that's life. So long as no one is shooting anyone, it shouldn't be an issue.