Pushback: Professor fired for having opinions wins total victory
University of Central Florida: Hostile to free speech
Bring a gun to a knife fight: In January 2021 (in one of my first blacklist columns and just after Biden assumed power), I described how professor Charles Negy was fired from the teaching job he had had at the University of Central Florida for 22 years, merely because he had stated some obvious facts about BLM and affirmative action on his twitter feed.
The school claimed it did not fire him for these tweets (an obvious lie based on the events), but because of a supposed pattern of inappropriate classroom behavior obtained through anonymous tips, tips instigated by Negy’s tweets that by the way did not match any of the school’s previous assessments of his teaching.
Negy fought back, demanding his case be reviewed by an independent arbitrator, and has now won his case.
In the ruling on Monday, the arbitrator, Ben Falcigno, found that the university had failed to show “just cause” when it fired Dr. Negy because it had not given him a chance to change his conduct in the classroom or, alternatively, to show that he was incapable of changing his behavior.
Mr. Falcigno pointed out that Dr. Negy had received three awards for teaching productivity and excellence, and that his last five annual evaluations showed that he was “rated as overall outstanding.” He said the university had also given Dr. Negy a raise to persuade him not to leave.
“There is no evidence that U.C.F. gave him reason to believe he was anything but as highly esteemed as his evaluations and treatment, with no reason to perform differently,” Mr. Falcigno wrote, adding that management was now blaming him for “what it retroactively sees as serious misconduct.”
Negy will now be reinstated with full pay and benefits. He will also return to the classroom in the fall, though he fully expects (as should we all) that he will be faced with mob protests when he does.
“It’s not fun walking on to campus knowing that your colleagues won’t speak to you, but I don’t give a damn about them,” he said. “I’m going to do what I’m going do.”
This will be the next battle in today’s war for free speech and freedom. Negy might have won his case now, but come the fall the fight will resume, with the left’s storm-troopers better prepared. Will the university protect Negy, or permit the mob to silence him? My guess is that the administrators of the University of Central Florida will allow the mob to disrupt his classes and prevent him from teaching, then use those disruptions as a reason to try to fire him again.
If it does so, then maybe the legislature and governor of Florida should take a close look at the funding it gives to this public college, as well as any special legal privileges the government has given it.
Regardless of what happens in the fall, this victory now against censorship and blacklisting is indicative of what is coming. Over the next year more and more of the other lawsuits against the illegal blacklisting and discrimination and censorship that began following the George Floyd riots and accelerated with the election of Democrat Joe Biden are going to be won, again and again and again.
I will describe two more such victories in the next two days. Nor will these be the last.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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
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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.
University of Central Florida: Hostile to free speech
Bring a gun to a knife fight: In January 2021 (in one of my first blacklist columns and just after Biden assumed power), I described how professor Charles Negy was fired from the teaching job he had had at the University of Central Florida for 22 years, merely because he had stated some obvious facts about BLM and affirmative action on his twitter feed.
The school claimed it did not fire him for these tweets (an obvious lie based on the events), but because of a supposed pattern of inappropriate classroom behavior obtained through anonymous tips, tips instigated by Negy’s tweets that by the way did not match any of the school’s previous assessments of his teaching.
Negy fought back, demanding his case be reviewed by an independent arbitrator, and has now won his case.
In the ruling on Monday, the arbitrator, Ben Falcigno, found that the university had failed to show “just cause” when it fired Dr. Negy because it had not given him a chance to change his conduct in the classroom or, alternatively, to show that he was incapable of changing his behavior.
Mr. Falcigno pointed out that Dr. Negy had received three awards for teaching productivity and excellence, and that his last five annual evaluations showed that he was “rated as overall outstanding.” He said the university had also given Dr. Negy a raise to persuade him not to leave.“There is no evidence that U.C.F. gave him reason to believe he was anything but as highly esteemed as his evaluations and treatment, with no reason to perform differently,” Mr. Falcigno wrote, adding that management was now blaming him for “what it retroactively sees as serious misconduct.”
Negy will now be reinstated with full pay and benefits. He will also return to the classroom in the fall, though he fully expects (as should we all) that he will be faced with mob protests when he does.
“It’s not fun walking on to campus knowing that your colleagues won’t speak to you, but I don’t give a damn about them,” he said. “I’m going to do what I’m going do.”
This will be the next battle in today’s war for free speech and freedom. Negy might have won his case now, but come the fall the fight will resume, with the left’s storm-troopers better prepared. Will the university protect Negy, or permit the mob to silence him? My guess is that the administrators of the University of Central Florida will allow the mob to disrupt his classes and prevent him from teaching, then use those disruptions as a reason to try to fire him again.
If it does so, then maybe the legislature and governor of Florida should take a close look at the funding it gives to this public college, as well as any special legal privileges the government has given it.
Regardless of what happens in the fall, this victory now against censorship and blacklisting is indicative of what is coming. Over the next year more and more of the other lawsuits against the illegal blacklisting and discrimination and censorship that began following the George Floyd riots and accelerated with the election of Democrat Joe Biden are going to be won, again and again and again.
I will describe two more such victories in the next two days. Nor will these be the last.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the 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. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
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.
Take me down: I bring a gun to a knife fight
You think you knowin’; everything in your sight
I been bringin’ it hard circa 1776
Bring it, b^&*%, ain’t nothin’ but a re-mix.
Ugh. A NYT link?
Anyhow, good on the professor. Here’s hoping that next year’s crop of nitwits has moved on to other distractions.
I expect Gov. DeSantis will lower the booms on these fools.
Contending with these left wing nuts is the only way for freedom to reign. As in Nazi Germany, the fight was short but ultimately, the Nazi party was removed, though the support of the ideology did not disperse; only went underground.
Phill O–
You might get something out of this–>
“Your Job In Germany”
https://archive.org/details/YourJobInGermany1945
(embedded player or download)
“U.S. Army training film for U.S. soldiers embarking on occupation duty in Germany. Directed by Frank Capra and written by Dr. Seuss. It served as the basis for the Oscar-winning Warner Brothers film, “Hitler Lives.””
That sounds like the very definition of a hostile workplace environment. Employers are not allowed, by law, to allow such to exist. When it happens he should file employment law complaints, and personally sue the people involved.