Pushback: Blacklisted Virginia Tech soccer player wins $100K settlement
Kiersten Hening
Bring a gun to a knife fight: Kiersten Hening, a former Virginia Tech student and soccer player, has won a $100k settlement from the university and her former coach, Charles Adair, for blacklisting her from the team because she refused to kneel in support of Black Lives Matter during the National Anthem before a game.
In December Adair had lost in his attempt to obtain qualified immunity, and thus he became personally liable for his improper and discriminatory actions against Hening that violated her first amendment rights. Rather than allow the case to go before a jury, it appears Adair and the university negotiated a settlement. And while the settlement terms have not been made public, and Adair’s comments to the press try to imply that he got off scot free, this comment by one of Hening’s lawyer gives us a hint:
Attorney Adam Mortara tweeted in reply to Adair’s statement: “If by clarity you mean you are paying my client six figures in a settlement then you’re right that’s pretty clear. Honestly, Coach, read the Court’s opinion. You are paying. Defendants don’t pay in cases that have no standing.”
Mortara went on to thank Adair and his “bosses at Tech for paying the equivalent of several years of tuition.”
Whether this is a victory for free speech remains very unclear, however. Even if Adair did pay up, he remains the soccer coach at Virginia Tech, and clearly has the support not only of the administration but the women’s soccer community there:
A group of 76 current and former Virginia Tech women’s soccer players released a joint statement in support of Hokies head coach Charles “Chugger” Adair, who was accused in a lawsuit of benching a former player based on her political views. Hening responded in a Fox News interview afterwards calling the atmosphere around the team “toxic” and “suffocating.”
Not surprisingly, Hening is no longer a member of the team, and this court victory doesn’t change that. Essentially, despite the settlement the blacklisters have won, and remain in control of the culture at Virginia Tech.
Hening therefore is just one more martyr in the long line of martyrs America will need before we can reclaim our heritage of free speech and liberty. The dominant leftist culture right now rejects such ideas — as proven by that joint statement above — and will require a lot of pushback to force it to change.
Each victory however is a step, and kudos to Hening for having the courage to take that step, despite the personal harm it did to her.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Kiersten Hening
Bring a gun to a knife fight: Kiersten Hening, a former Virginia Tech student and soccer player, has won a $100k settlement from the university and her former coach, Charles Adair, for blacklisting her from the team because she refused to kneel in support of Black Lives Matter during the National Anthem before a game.
In December Adair had lost in his attempt to obtain qualified immunity, and thus he became personally liable for his improper and discriminatory actions against Hening that violated her first amendment rights. Rather than allow the case to go before a jury, it appears Adair and the university negotiated a settlement. And while the settlement terms have not been made public, and Adair’s comments to the press try to imply that he got off scot free, this comment by one of Hening’s lawyer gives us a hint:
Attorney Adam Mortara tweeted in reply to Adair’s statement: “If by clarity you mean you are paying my client six figures in a settlement then you’re right that’s pretty clear. Honestly, Coach, read the Court’s opinion. You are paying. Defendants don’t pay in cases that have no standing.”
Mortara went on to thank Adair and his “bosses at Tech for paying the equivalent of several years of tuition.”
Whether this is a victory for free speech remains very unclear, however. Even if Adair did pay up, he remains the soccer coach at Virginia Tech, and clearly has the support not only of the administration but the women’s soccer community there:
A group of 76 current and former Virginia Tech women’s soccer players released a joint statement in support of Hokies head coach Charles “Chugger” Adair, who was accused in a lawsuit of benching a former player based on her political views. Hening responded in a Fox News interview afterwards calling the atmosphere around the team “toxic” and “suffocating.”
Not surprisingly, Hening is no longer a member of the team, and this court victory doesn’t change that. Essentially, despite the settlement the blacklisters have won, and remain in control of the culture at Virginia Tech.
Hening therefore is just one more martyr in the long line of martyrs America will need before we can reclaim our heritage of free speech and liberty. The dominant leftist culture right now rejects such ideas — as proven by that joint statement above — and will require a lot of pushback to force it to change.
Each victory however is a step, and kudos to Hening for having the courage to take that step, despite the personal harm it did to her.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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