The Volokh Conspiracy - Academic Freedom Issue:

The Express-Times, a New Jersey newspaper, reports:

The trustees of Warren County Community College, facing national criticism over an e-mail sent by a professor to a student, will meet tonight to discuss personnel issues and student rights with their attorney. . . .

[T]he college has asked another professor to teach three English and writing classes [part-time professor John] Daly was scheduled to lead today. . . .

Daly used his personal e-mail account on Nov. 13 to reply to an e-mail invitation sent by WCCC freshman Rebecca Beach.

Beach, who is not a student of Daly's, founded the college chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a national conservative activist group. Her group, and the conservative Young America's Foundation, brought retired Lt. Col. Scott Rutter to campus last week to speak about his experiences in Iraq.

In his e-mail to Beach, Daly wrote that he believes the war in Iraq will end only when American soldiers turn their guns on their commanding officers.

A Web site called Inside Higher Ed reported Monday that Daly said he meant that "in the most metaphoric sense." . . .

Beach said she planned to attend the meeting to ask college officials to fire Daly.

"He definitely stepped out of bounds, out of his place as an educator," Beach said. "His threat to expose me till I don't dare show my face on campus created a hostile and uncomfortable working environment for me." . . .

Here are more details about the e-mail, according to Inside Higher Ed:

John Daly, an adjunct instructor in English, sent an e-mail reply in which he said that he would ask students to boycott the lecture, and that "real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs."

Daly also criticized Beach's leadership of a campus chapter of Young America's Foundation, saying: "I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like yours won't dare show their face on a college campus." . . .

[Daly] said that because Beach was never one of his students and had sent the e-mail message from her personal e-mail account, he thought she was a Young America's Foundation organizer, and replied with that in mind. Daly said that if he had known he was writing to a freshman, he would not have changed the political ideas of his note, but would have used a different tone. . . .

Daly sounds like a jerk, but it seems to me that his speech is protected by principles of academic freedom, and quite possibly by the First Amendment. (I distinguish the two, because academic freedom principles are a matter of professional ethics rather than constitutional law, and sometimes extend beyond the minimum standards imposed by the Constitution.)

He's entitled to express his views (however reprehensible) about the propriety of soldiers killing their superiors, and to condemn (even if intemperately) people who put on programs that he thinks express immoral views. Trying to intimidate students with threats of low grades would of course be improper, but simply threatening to urge others to stay away from the talk is permissible — again, in my view quite wrong for a talk such as this one, but permissible.

If someone put on a program that I thought praised those who kill in what I saw as an immoral cause, I think I'd have the right to send e-mails remonstrating with the organizers. Daly is quite wrong on the moral merits of the issue, but academic freedom includes the right to express views on the wrong side of moral controversies as well as on the right side.

The college president got it right, I think, in his first response, when he said that "I firmly believe every employee and student has First Amendment rights, no matter how repugnant I personally find Mr. Daly's statements"; and he was also right to fight bad speech with good speech, when he "went to the lecture Beach organized and personally welcomed her, the speaker . . . and audience members." It's too bad that the college seems to be backing down from this stand (though I hope that it will ultimately stay with the president's original view).

Finally, those conservatives who call for firing the professor should ask themselves: If academic freedom is eroded, and colleges and universities find it easier to fire professors for saying things that students think "create[] a hostile and uncomfortable working environment," who will be the likely primary victims — left-wing professors or right-wing ones?

UPDATE: Prof. Daly resigned right before the meeting. Thanks to reader Rich Brychcy for the pointer.

	[Eugene Volokh, November 22, 2005 at 4:46pm] Trackbacks Academic Freedom Issue: The Express-Times, a New Jersey newspaper, reports: The trustees of Warren County Community College, facing national criticism over an e-mail sent by a professor to a student, will meet tonight to discuss personnel issues and student rights with their attorney. . . . [T]he college has asked another professor to teach three English and writing classes [part-time professor John] Daly was scheduled to lead today. . . . Daly used his personal e-mail account on Nov. 13 to reply to an e-mail invitation sent by WCCC freshman Rebecca Beach. Beach, who is not a student of Daly's, founded the college chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, a national conservative activist group. Her group, and the conservative Young America's Foundation, brought retired Lt. Col. Scott Rutter to campus last week to speak about his experiences in Iraq. In his e-mail to Beach, Daly wrote that he believes the war in Iraq will end only when American soldiers turn their guns on their commanding officers. A Web site called Inside Higher Ed reported Monday that Daly said he meant that "in the most metaphoric sense." . . . Beach said she planned to attend the meeting to ask college officials to fire Daly. "He definitely stepped out of bounds, out of his place as an educator," Beach said. "His threat to expose me till I don't dare show my face on campus created a hostile and uncomfortable working environment for me." . . . Here are more details about the e-mail, according to Inside Higher Ed: John Daly, an adjunct instructor in English, sent an e-mail reply in which he said that he would ask students to boycott the lecture, and that "real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs." Daly also criticized Beach's leadership of a campus chapter of Young America's Foundation, saying: "I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like yours won't dare show their face on a college campus." . . . [Daly] said that because Beach was never one of his students and had sent the e-mail message from her personal e-mail account, he thought she was a Young America's Foundation organizer, and replied with that in mind. Daly said that if he had known he was writing to a freshman, he would not have changed the political ideas of his note, but would have used a different tone. . . . Daly sounds like a jerk, but it seems to me that his speech is protected by principles of academic freedom, and quite possibly by the First Amendment. (I distinguish the two, because academic freedom principles are a matter of professional ethics rather than constitutional law, and sometimes extend beyond the minimum standards imposed by the Constitution.) He's entitled to express his views (however reprehensible) about the propriety of soldiers killing their superiors, and to condemn (even if intemperately) people who put on programs that he thinks express immoral views. Trying to intimidate students with threats of low grades would of course be improper, but simply threatening to urge others to stay away from the talk is permissible — again, in my view quite wrong for a talk such as this one, but permissible. If someone put on a program that I thought praised those who kill in what I saw as an immoral cause, I think I'd have the right to send e-mails remonstrating with the organizers. Daly is quite wrong on the moral merits of the issue, but academic freedom includes the right to express views on the wrong side of moral controversies as well as on the right side. The college president got it right, I think, in his first response, when he said that "I firmly believe every employee and student has First Amendment rights, no matter how repugnant I personally find Mr. Daly's statements"; and he was also right to fight bad speech with good speech, when he "went to the lecture Beach organized and personally welcomed her, the speaker . . . and audience members." It's too bad that the college seems to be backing down from this stand (though I hope that it will ultimately stay with the president's original view). Finally, those conservatives who call for firing the professor should ask themselves: If academic freedom is eroded, and colleges and universities find it easier to fire professors for saying things that students think "create[] a hostile and uncomfortable working environment," who will be the likely primary victims — left-wing professors or right-wing ones? UPDATE: Prof. Daly resigned right before the meeting. Thanks to reader Rich Brychcy for the pointer.