I haven’t looked at this closely, but based on Eric Rasmusen’s and Erin O’Connor’s posts, it seems like there’s a very serious problem here. Here’s O’Connor’s post:
Penn State president Graham Spanier has spoken: Nona Gerard, the Penn State Altoona theater professor whose outspokenness alienated her colleagues, has been fired. Spanier notified Gerard of the decision yesterday, and gave Gerard until the end of the day Wednesday to clear out her office and turn in her key. Substitutes will be found to teach Gerard’s current courses and to take over the campus production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest that she had been directing.
By all accounts, it looks as if Gerard was fired for offending colleagues with her criticisms of their work and for openly questioning the viability of Penn State’s new Integrative Arts major, which she found to be ill-conceived and which she believed could not be responsibly staffed. It’s hard for me to comprehend how such draconian measures can be considered reasonable at a university that is not only dedicated to the principle of academic freedom, but also obligated to uphold the First Amendment rights of faculty. But perhaps the answer lies within this chilling statement issued by Penn State’s Standing Joint Committee on Tenure after Gerard was tried in a kangaroo court last January: “the hostile communications of Professor Gerard go beyond what is permitted as free speech.” Gerard never threatened anyone; she never libelled anyone; she never incited anyone to violence or violated reasonable restrictions on the time, place, and manner of expression. She simply voiced her strong personal opinion on matters of immediate professional concern. That Penn State administrators think Gerard’s unwelcome speech is not protected speech shows a deplorable willingness to ignore their legal and moral obligations to the Bill of Rights. That Graham Spanier, who has received more than one forceful tutorial from FIRE about individual rights on campus, would agree with them is worse than deplorable: it’s actionable. Gerard has made it clear from the beginning that if she is fired she will sue the university for violating her First Amendment rights. I hope she does.
Rasmusen has more.
UPDATE: Ralph Luker has some more, including pointers to some other posts on the subject, and his own evaluation.
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