Professor Threatens Conservative Student

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It's common knowledge that America's colleges and universities are havens for extreme liberalism. Most of them, however, still make some attempt to make it look like they offer a place where students can learn, explore, and make up their own minds.

Not so Warren Community College in Washington, New Jersey.

Rebecca Beach, a Warren freshman, received a nasty surprise in response to her e-mail to faculty announcing the appearance of decorated Iraq war hero, Lt. Col. Scott Rutter, to speak today.

Professor John Daly e-mailed her back. Read the whole story and the professor's e-mail in its entirety here.

Referring to Rebecca's poster advertising the event, the professor wrote...

"Your literature and signs in the entrance lobby look like fascist propaganda and is extremely offensive."

He rambles on for a while about the evils of capitalism, the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, Exxon and racism, then offers this threat...

"I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won't dare show their face on a college campus."

Excuse me? Since when are professors allowed to not only make efforts to squelch free speech, but also boldly put it in writing directly to the student?

And, as if that wasn't bad enough, the professor finishes up with this gem of a suggestion...

"Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors and fight for just causes and for people's needs..."

You've got to be shitting me! This is just outrageous, and cannot go without consequence.

Write to John Daly and tell him what you think.

Or, better yet, follow my lead and write to William Austin, Warren Community College President, and request that Daly be fired immediately for this gross abuse of the power, trust and respect which have quite clearly been erroneously bestowed upon the professor.

***UPDATE***
11/18/05 @ 7:44 a.m.

I went to the Warren Community College website this morning to get contact info to call the college's president, Dr. Austin...apparently they anticipated being deluged with calls about the Rebecca Beach/John Daly incident, because this message came up on a splash page with a link to continue to the college's home page:

Warren County Community College is a "students first" college where learning without limits is always the main goal. We maintain a mission of building a community of learners through accessible, quality learning opportunities designed to meet personal aspirations for all students.

It has been brought to the administration's attention that a part-time instructor, Mr. John Daly, speaking for himself and using his personal email, sent a message to a student representing the Young Americans for Freedom in response to a personal email from her requesting him to announce an upcoming event on the campus. Mr Daly responded to her alone, and expressed his own personal views regarding his beliefs about this group.

The viewpoints of this professor in no way depict the views of Warren County Community College, its administration, or the Board of Trustees. The College does however support the constitution, the first amendment, and the right to free speech.

Additionally, Mr. Daly's message was sent as a one-to-one message, via e-mail, to one person, and not to the college community. Finally, the College is viewing this message as a personnel issue and will be addressing it according to the policies and procedures of the College.

Dr. Austin, college president stated, "I firmly believe every employee and student has first amendment rights, no matter how repugnant I personally find Mr. Daly's statements. Our attorneys have advised us of our obligation to follow state laws, board policies, and college due process in regards to any personnel matter. We are now investigating this matter further."

Not to be picayunish, but does it really matter that the professor sent the e-mail to one student rather than to the college community? If the rights of all students are equally protected, then the sentiments in Daly's e-mail should stand up as if they had been directed at the entire college community.

And Daly didn't just state his "personal views" and "beliefs" -- he went well beyond that when he said...

"I will continue to expose your right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like your won't dare show their face on a college campus."

That isn't a personal view or a belief. It's a direct statement of purpose and intent. It's a threat. I, for one, will be watching to be sure that Dr. Austin and Warren CC don't try to gloss over that fact.

***UPDATE***
11/18/05 11:19 a.m.

In the comments someone asked about the posters that Rebecca Beach distributed. They were anti-communism posters, I'm assuming the ones you can download from the YAF website here.

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Rebecca Beach
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