Pushback: College that demanded professor use fake pronouns loses lawsuit, must pay him $400K
A victory for free speech
Don’t comply: When in 2018 the public college Shawnee State University in Ohio tried to force philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether to use a student’s preferred female pronouns, even though the student was a biological male, Meriwether refused.
The school then performed “a formal investigation” which declared that Meriwether was creating “a hostile environment” for the student, simply because Meriwether refused to let that student force him to say things he disagreed with.
Shawnee State officials then placed a written warning in the professor’s file, demanding he change the way he addresses transgender students to avoid being fired or suspended without pay.
Rather than bow, Meriwether contacted the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a free speech law firm focused on protecting the first amendment rights of Americans. They sued, and have now won a big victory for freedom of speech.
As part of the agreement (pdf) announced Thursday, Shawnee State University will pay $400,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to settle the federal lawsuit with Nicholas Meriwether, a professor at its humanities department.
In addition, the university acknowledges Meriwether’s right to choose when to use, or avoid using, titles or pronouns when referring to or addressing students, and pledges to never force him to use anyone’s preferred pronouns, including when a student requests pronouns that don’t align with his or her biological sex.
When the school tried to force Meriwether to use fake pronouns in 2018 under the absurd premise that not doing so created a hostile environment for the student, the school apparently didn’t notice that it was thus creating a hostile environment for Meriwether. Apparently, fair play for all doesn’t apply under these new speech rules.
In fact, the whole idea of “hostile environments” is insane. Free speech cannot exist if you worry about offending others. No one has the right to a “safe space.” And by demanding such a thing you are telling the world that you are simply close-minded, refusing to listen to dissenting opinions that might actually widen your horizons.
For a college to demand such a thing is counter to the founding principles of education. Any college that enforces such rules should be shut down. It is not only failing to teach its students properly, it is teaching them to be evil.
Congratulations to Meriwether for not backing down and for winning. With more such victories we might actually rescue our educational system from the trash heap.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
A victory for free speech
Don’t comply: When in 2018 the public college Shawnee State University in Ohio tried to force philosophy professor Nicholas Meriwether to use a student’s preferred female pronouns, even though the student was a biological male, Meriwether refused.
The school then performed “a formal investigation” which declared that Meriwether was creating “a hostile environment” for the student, simply because Meriwether refused to let that student force him to say things he disagreed with.
Shawnee State officials then placed a written warning in the professor’s file, demanding he change the way he addresses transgender students to avoid being fired or suspended without pay.
Rather than bow, Meriwether contacted the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a free speech law firm focused on protecting the first amendment rights of Americans. They sued, and have now won a big victory for freedom of speech.
As part of the agreement (pdf) announced Thursday, Shawnee State University will pay $400,000 in damages and attorney’s fees to settle the federal lawsuit with Nicholas Meriwether, a professor at its humanities department.
In addition, the university acknowledges Meriwether’s right to choose when to use, or avoid using, titles or pronouns when referring to or addressing students, and pledges to never force him to use anyone’s preferred pronouns, including when a student requests pronouns that don’t align with his or her biological sex.
When the school tried to force Meriwether to use fake pronouns in 2018 under the absurd premise that not doing so created a hostile environment for the student, the school apparently didn’t notice that it was thus creating a hostile environment for Meriwether. Apparently, fair play for all doesn’t apply under these new speech rules.
In fact, the whole idea of “hostile environments” is insane. Free speech cannot exist if you worry about offending others. No one has the right to a “safe space.” And by demanding such a thing you are telling the world that you are simply close-minded, refusing to listen to dissenting opinions that might actually widen your horizons.
For a college to demand such a thing is counter to the founding principles of education. Any college that enforces such rules should be shut down. It is not only failing to teach its students properly, it is teaching them to be evil.
Congratulations to Meriwether for not backing down and for winning. With more such victories we might actually rescue our educational system from the trash heap.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Jordan Peterson
“Gotcha, Cathy Newman”
https://youtu.be/3ZCLMPgaIxg
1:18
I grew up in a era when the word “offend” didn’t trigger almost anybody (it was at the very beginning of the ‘craze’).
Now, I live in the era of planning to use “offense” as a Kryptonite-like targeted death ray.
Zap! See them fetal-like present!! Ha, ha!!!
GREAT – ANOTHER PRECEDENT for the Rule of COMMON SENSE! More should do this and soon this latest FAD will FADE! The LEFT is pushing this as far as they can, but when it comes back to bite them in the pocketbook they MIGHT take notice! There are restaurants for people who like fat, greasy cheeseburgers! I like a fat, greasy cheeseburger!! I don’t care for some kinds of foods that are featured in some restaurants so I don’t go there! I don’t go to a Sushi joint and DEMAND a fat, greasy cheeseburger! I have an affliction called COMMON SENSE! Thank goodness that the Court has some COMMON SENSE and vindicated the Professor!