Terra Extraneus

Le Moyne College is a Roman Catholic institution of higher learning governed by the Jesuits and in its mission statement, claims to be called to “promote a more just society.” Even as a non-Catholic, I have always been intrigued by the Jesuits and not a little awed by their history and accomplishments. That makes the present controversy impossible to fathom.

CNSNews.com reported that LeMoyne College dismissed a graduate student from the graduate school of education because he wrote a paper favoring corporal punishment, spanking, as part of a program of discipline in an “ideal learning environment.” Litigation followed and a New York state court held that LeMoyne College violated its own handbook by failing to allow the student to appeal from the adverse decision. LeMoyne College has decided to appeal, according to the news report. By the way, the paper earned an “A-“ and the student’s grade point average was above 3.7, so the dismissal could not be cloaked as academic failure.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (“FIRE”) has posted the results of their work in the matter to their website, which included the decision of the NY court in favor of the student and ordering the school to follow its own handbook. The opinion is only three pages long and does not mention the separation of church and state or distinguish LeMoyne College as a private religious institution, but merely ruled on generic contract principles. FIRE’s letters and the college’s original dismissal letter are also posted.

This is my first chance to review FIRE’s work and it was impressive in this case to this point. For many years I have followed the work of Jay Sekulow, Esq. and even his opponents publicly recognize the quality of his work. FIRE may be playing a niche role with similar competence.

The private church run school was clearly wrong. But, are we happy to see a successful intervention by a secular court, even on secular contract grounds? However, without seeing the briefing filed by the college, it is impossible to know whether the school claimed its decision was based on religious views.

Equally troubling is that UCLA, clearly a leading educational institution in this nation supported by taxpayer funds, plans legal action against an alumnus that founded an organization targeting “political radicalism on campus,” according to CNSNews.com, and presses its views through a website that identified “radical professors” and then rated them according to their views and efforts to convert their students to those views. UCLA’s cease and desist letter was based on trade mark violations. The website dropped all trade marks and disclaimed official affiliation with UCLA, but a UCLA spokesperson indicated legal action was still being designed to silence the website. The lesson to be learned here is that even in California, where First Amendment freedoms have historically been cherished, there is a certain amount of hypocrisy about academic freedom. The professors have it, the students are the unwilling victims, and even a graduate of the school must not speak of it.

In both of these instances, the institutions of higher learning have become so afraid of the written word, even an unpublished term paper, that they have felt compelled to lash out and destroy the authors. Or worse, are these institutions so flush with cash that arrogance has replaced intellectual honesty? Oklahoma institutions of higher learning would never consider such ridiculous actions, and I suspect it is because they are too busy making ends meet to waste time or energy, or highly paid personnel and legal fees, on such. Insofar as the public record yet demonstrates, there has been no accusation of defamation or violence against the authors to be silenced.

On both coasts, it appears, academic freedom and intellectual debate of some persons, but not those in some privileged class such as the professors, can be attacked consistent with the mission statement of these institutions. This is sad and frightening if it is a representative trend.