Is anyone else offended by this?

[Bryan]

I've seen many blatant violations of free speech, but this has to be the worse to date.
news report

[Brad Nunnally]

In short yes.

However to play the devils advocate here is my two cents:

First, the mentioned dental school is a private school, not public. This means from a legal stand point any comments the student says about the school or its employees can be considered libel. With public schools, i.e. SIUE, this not the case, since the school and its employees are technically public figures they are open to public opinion. Also, as mentioned in the article the school does have a code of ethics that students are required to follow since it is a private school. Private schools do have a lot more power of this kind of thing than any kind of public school. A private school is just like a private company you still have the right of freedom of speech, you just better be ready to accept the consequences. If you mouth off to your boss most likely you will be fired. The power that private schools have is one of the things that kinda of bothers me with any kind of private school, from elementary school to college. The prosecution of libel and the violation of the code of ethics is why the students is wrong.

The reason why the school is wrong is due to the vagueness of the code of ethics. When something like that is written it should be clear cut and not have any sort of grey area. But, then lawyers love grey areas because it gives them lots of room to work. Take ACM's code of ethics, they are all listed in clear sentences with no wiggle room. If you are caught violating the code of ethics and are a current member of ACM your membership is canceled. Since the blog wasn't hosted by the school, at least I couldn't see anywhere where they said it was, then there might be a chance that the student will win. However, blogs are beginning to be placed in the same category of newspaper editorial articles. Even if you write something into the editorials that is libel to a private person or organization it is still illegal.
Now don't get me wrong, I think what the school is doing is crap but just saying that it violates freedom of speech is extreme. The student did exercise this right, now due to the type of school and the (insert your choice of words) people that run it, this student has to be willing to pay the price. If I came onto these boards and just slammed all my professors, by name, with insults and untrue comments I would have to live with the consequences. If they kicked me out of the school, cause there are rules about doing that on a school hosted website, then they are not taking away my rights I am just having to pay the price for my comments.

Ok I think I am done. Just remember I do think it is wrong, but the philosopher in me couldn't help but commenting a little bit.

"We must be willing to pay a price for freedom."
H. L. Mencken

[Matthew Thomas]

This was stated near the end of the article, but after reading it, it sounds like he had a generic (and possibly legitimate) rant; the right (or wrong, if you will) person read it that had power to do something about it, and was offended. And they then took the it to the extreme to shut him down.

It looks like the case is still in appeal, but enough has been done to make an example of him. IMHO, regardless of the legal outcome, the school has already won.

Speaking of which....maybe it's time to get a new signature?

[Bryan]

I quite like your signature Matt.  In fact I'm thinking about starting a blog to rant on everything I hate about SIUE*  you can bet Dr. Wu would be high on the list too.




*granted there aren't manyt hings I hate about SIUE, there'd be enough that I'd get my point across.  Most of the things I hate about SIUE have nothing to dow tih the CS department..well..save one big one.

[Ross Mead]

I agree with Matthew.  I think that the wrong person read the blog, and was in a position of power to do something about it.  Doesn't this just seem like RateMyProfessor.com or HotOrNot.com?  I mean, these places are made for the specific purpose to rate/judge people, and comment or justify your rating... and this is a large public source!  The student was writing on his own online journal which was open for others to read.  He wasn't inviting people to read or even share in his opinion, but simply expressing himself.  If these people in power would read some of the blogs I've read (just by chance), they'd realize that there are many more important issues being discussed than simply downing others (ranging from simple political views all the way to cutting themselves just to feel and/or suicide).  And yet, these people are more concerned about what is being said about them rather than some of the real (potentially dangerous) problems that people may have with themselves.

On a side note,...

**looks down at shirt**...

... "A coodah is a whatah?"... :-P

[Matthew Thomas]

Thanks Brian.

I remember reading something on here a list of all the wuisms... I don't know what happened to it, but it always made for a good read.

After programming languages, I had planned to start a new list but never got around to it.

[Tyler]

I won't say it offends me, but I will say it is extremely sad that administrations now police blogs for defamation of professors and classmates rather than try to say, lower the cost of an education, or make it better.  

On a slightly related note (I apologize if I digress but censorship always gets me going).  I saw Howard Stern on the Today Show this morning.  He's pretty well-known for offensive stuff, FCC fines, and other junk like that.  Anyway, he said he would never let his daughters or his parents listen to his show.  And he feels that it's the parent's responsibility (OH NO!!! That means parents have to take responsibility) to keep an eye on what their kids do/see/listen to.  Whether I like what he does or not, I whole heartedly believe he has the right to do it.  Anyway, I always have the final say in the subject--because my radio has both a power button and ways to change the station.

[Jerry]

tfizzle wrote:
 Anyway, he said he would never let his daughters or his parents listen to his show.

Ok, I can understand about his daughters (assuming they are still minors), but why not his parents?

[Tyler]

I imagine it's the same reason women that contemplate posing nude say "But my father will see this."