Student expelled for speaking his mind.

brianhos · 01-13-2008, 08:50 AM

T. Hayden Barnes opposed his university’s plan to build two large parking garages with $30 million from students’ mandatory fees. So last spring, he did what any student activist would do: He posted fliers criticizing the plan, wrote mass e-mails to students, sent letters to administrators and wrote a letter to the editor of the campus newspaper. While that kind of campaign might be enough to annoy university officials, Barnes never thought it would get him expelled

Article continued at: Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Maybe He Shouldn't Have Spoken His Mind

Line that most shows how out of touch somepeople are in this world anymore:

As additional evidence of the threat posed by Barnes, the document referred to a link he posted to his Facebook profile whose accompanying graphic read: “Shoot it. Upload it. Get famous. Project Spotlight is searching for the next big thing. Are you it?” It doesn’t mention that Project Spotlight was an online digital video contest and that “shoot” in that context meant “record.” The appeal also mentions that Barnes’s profile stated, at one point, that he was “cleaning out and rearranging his room and thus, his mind, or so he hopes.” That was likely a status update, commonly used by Facebook members to update their friends on what they’re doing at a particular moment — whether literally or metaphorically.

bostinelosd · 01-13-2008, 08:53 AM

Freedom of speech? I smell a lawsuit.

brianhos · 01-13-2008, 08:56 AM

Shoot it. Upload it. Get famous.

As soon as I read that I knew it was a photo contest. I guess college admins are freaked after the VT thing.

Cyclonesrule91 · 01-13-2008, 08:57 AM

Where was this at??? The same place where all the native indians were camped out in the trees around the football stadium during a game early in the college season not happy with the fact that the university was cutting them down to put up new buildings?

superdorf · 01-13-2008, 11:06 AM

Obviously this guy was on his way to a VaTech style massacre... you know, to prevent parking garages... He did say/type the word SHOOT so obviously he should be expelled.

CloneFan65 · 01-13-2008, 01:01 PM

I don't know any more about this story than what I read in the linked article, but in the university's defense, campuses are very cautious in the wake of the VT tragedy and similar threats in recent years. Perhaps they over-reacted and this kid is harmless, but I doubt it's a matter of trying to deny someone's freedom of speech.

chadm · 01-13-2008, 01:11 PM

Originally Posted by CloneFan65

I don't know any more about this story than what I read in the linked article, but in the university's defense, campuses are very cautious in the wake of the VT tragedy and similar threats in recent years. Perhaps they over-reacted and this kid is harmless, but I doubt it's a matter of trying to deny someone's freedom of speech.

The issue I see is that the VT killer had a history with a mental illness. He was protected by this with laws on client priveleges. This student just posted a response on a website and is being held to a standard that doesn't fit the words.