Marketplace of Ideas?? Yeah , Right!
I believe that I may have posted the original article relating to this subject a while back. I can't find it now so please excuse any duplicity.
Anyways the new developments are listed below. What I can't understand is how the student can claim to be "disgusted" by homosexuality and be branded for speaking "violent" language; while the teacher called the student a heterosexist, hate monger, and in the original e-mail branded the studedent as a white, heterosexual, Christian male" who "can feel entitled to make violent, heterosexist comments and not feel marked or threatened or vulnerable." Aren't these comments more hostile and violent since they are directed against an individual who expressed dissent with the teacher's view? Shouldn't the teacher be held to the same standard? Had Ms. Crystall substituted the word 'black' for 'white,' 'homosexual' for 'heterosexual' or 'Muslim' for 'Christian,' she would have been suspended or fired immediately.
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Full story: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-465206.html
A professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill who publicly rebuked a student as a “heterosexist” hate monger for saying in class that he disapproved of homosexuality says she did so because such speech should not be welcome in an inclusive classroom environment, reports the Herald Sun.
In her first statement since federal authorities announced an investigation to determine whether UNC instructor Elyse Crystall violated student Tim Mertes civil rights with her excoriation, the professor said her comments were intended to curtail speech that she found offensive.
"My comments were intended not simply to show that Tim's comments were not appropriate to the classroom, but also to guide other students in determining how they should engage in discussions in the future," Crystall said.
Mertes said during the class that he didn't approve of homosexuality. A self-identified Christian, he also related a story about a friend who felt "disgusted" by a gay man's advances toward him.
In a later email to the rest of the class, Crystall called Mertes "a white, heterosexual, [C]hristian male" who "can feel entitled to make violent, heterosexist comments."
Fellow faculty members are rallying around Crystall, saying the school cannot allow speech that makes sexual minorities feel uncomfortable.
"We call upon the UNC administration to affirm publicly the importance of creating an environment in which statements that are hostile towards sexual minorities will not be tolerated. The classroom cannot be an arena for the exchange of ideas when it is permissible to dehumanize a group of people,” the faculty said in a letter to the administration.
