Let’s see. A graduate student teaching an undergraduate class stopped a rant by a student against gay people because said rant had nothing to do with the classroom subject. Later, a conservative professor from another department disagreed. So far so good.
The professor published a piece on-line attacking the graduate student. So farther so good.
But the professor also published the name of the graduate student, contact information, and how to find her. After receiving a number of violent threats, the student left the college in fear for her well being.
The college suspended the professor for publishing private contact information, potentially putting the student at risk. The professor sued and the issue went to court. The professor won because of academic freedom.
Wisconsin conservative James Wigderson celebrates the decision as a conservative victory for freedom of speech over a liberal college that is intolerant of conservatives who dare to speak out. Well, that’s what he says.
Okay, he doesn’t say quite all that. James is a very busy individual who must deal with all manner of important issues. He forgot to mention the part about publishing private contact information or that it was the sole reason for the suspension. Limitations of space, I would guess. Could have happened to any ideologue blinded by conservative passion.
Actually, John McAdams didn’t publish the “graduate student’s” contact information. He linked to an instructor’s publicly available blog. Elsewhere on the blog she posted her contact information publicly. McAdams did not encourage anyone to contact Cheryl Abbate.
As for the “graduate student,” she was the paid instructor for a class in the philosophy department. She told a student at a Catholic University that he could not bring up the Catholic position on same-sex marriage because that would be homophobic and bigoted. If that’s not worthy of discussion on a blog about political correctness (among other subjects), what is?