Cheesed Off

I wish the following story were rare, but such occurrences are all too common on today's campus, where freedom of speech regularly gives way if the wrong people are offended.

At the University of Wisconsin-Stout--a public school where the First Amendment applies--theatre professor James Miller put a poster on his office door of Captain Malcolm Reynolds from the sci-fi series Firefly.  It included this quote: "You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: if I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me. And you'll be armed."

Sort of amusing, though probably better if you're familiar with the character.  In any case, no reasonable person could take it seriously as a personal threat. (In fact, it's a promise that the guy's a straight shooter.) It's certainly a lot less threatening than quite a few explicitly political posters I've seen on professors' doors.

Nevertheless, a couple weeks ago, University Police Chief Lisa A. Walter removed it from Miller's door and sent him an email saying the poster was "unacceptable." He wrote back "Unacceptable to whom?" and demanded she respect his rights.  She wrote back saying it could be seen as a threat, then threatened him with disorderly conduct if he put it--or anything similar--back up.  He wrote back telling her to stop this nonsense, and noted he was a pacifist while she was the one carrying a gun.

They should have settled this right there with her returning the poster and apologizing.  But since you need special permission to express yourself freely on campus these days, the fight escalated.

The professor put up a new poster that said "Warning: Fascism" with the figure a cop beating someone.  Missing the irony, or just not used to being mocked, Police Chief Walter removed that from the door as well.  Her email noted the campus "threat assessment team" conferred with the University Counsel and this brain trust determined an anti-fascist piece of satire created "a reasonable expectation that it will cause a material and/or substantial disruption of school activities and/or be constituted as a threat."

So by this time the higher-ups had taken notice.  What they should have done is officially rebuked the Police Chief and told the Professor he can put what he wants on his door.  But no, the Dean was concerned the Prof had twice put up unacceptable posters, so Miller needed to have a sit-down with the Dean and the Chief.

At this point Miller called in FIRE, a foundation that fights for free speech on campus. He might have given the university one more chance--go to the meeting and calmly say "if my posters will be returned with an official apology, I promise the college will not be sued and Chief Walter will not be brought up on charges." Maybe he figured it wasn't worth it at this point.

The case became publicized and Wisconsin became the target of much derision.  Even Nathan Fillion who played Captain Reynold tweeted in with some ridicule. FIRE wrote the Chancellor who, yet again, missed the chance for a Wisconsin official to apologize and get this behind him.  Instead, the Chancellor, Provost and Vice Chancellor responded that they were standing by the removal of the posters.  In the Orwellian language that college leaders now use casually, they noted:

This was not an act of censorship. This was an act of sensitivity to and care for our shared community, and was intended to maintain a campus climate in which everyone can feel welcome, safe and secure.

If the school is sued, which now seems inevitable, they will lose.  The only question is how should the leaders of UW be dealt with. Will the court's response be enough, or do people like this need to be fired?