Please read the Mar. 22 letter by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) addressed to Trustee Kathy Weiss and the entire Board of Trustees. The letter addresses Trustee Weiss’s failure to respond to its January 11th letter and Trustee Weiss’ further attempts to silence faculty criticism of the BOT and the then-college president.
You may also want to read FIRE’s article about the case.
The First Amendment protects our rights to speak on matters of public concern, encompassing criticism of the Board of Trustees as well as the College administration, administrators, and its policies. The Board of Trustees is free to disagree with our assessment of the current state of the college, as well as any critique we have of college administrators and policies, but it may not direct us to stop voicing these. That has a chilling effect on speech and violates the First Amendment.
One Response
What a fucked up state our college is in. When President Fanelli went to court to stop the “moral majority” group from shutting down PED 251, he was willing to do everything legally available to him to defend freedom of speech.
We are now faced with a group of incompetent Trustees who will not step up to the challenges that the college faces today. This has only gotten worse over the last two or three college Presidents.
Its reassuring to know that the faculty now have dedicated and competent union officers who will not stand down as our college erodes away. Thank you, the officers of the NCCFT!