Court OKs prof's 'racially charged' e-mails

[alp227]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

(05-20) 18:41 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- College officials in Arizona were under no obligation to punish a professor who sent e-mails to fellow employees in 2003 denouncing a Latino celebration as racist, complaining about "multicultural stupor" and proclaiming the "superiority of Western civilization," a federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Thursday.

The messages from Walter Kehowski, a math professor at Glendale Community College near Phoenix, were constitutionally protected free speech and did not constitute harassment of Latino employees who received them, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"The government may not silence speech because the ideas it promotes are thought to be offensive," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said in the 3-0 ruling. The panel also included retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, sitting by temporary assignment.

The court overturned a judge's decision that would have allowed a jury to decide whether the Maricopa Community College District, Kehowski's employer, violated Latino employees' right to be free of discrimination and harassment by refusing to fire or discipline the professor.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/20/BA1O1DI5LK.DTL

[rurallib]

1. Well, according to Rand Paul his fellow employees should avoid him

That'll teach him.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Shunning is actually fairly effective, just ask the Amish

[customerserviceguy]

3. I would ask them

but they're still shunning me...

[Tunkamerica]

5. Shun off. It's like slapping you with silence. Shun on.

[lunasun]

4. Wow!

Can't wait to see what emails are now protected in the workplace from disipline.....

[petronius]

6. I think it raises some interesting questions about evolving technology

There's no question that he has the right to stand on the street corner and spout this to all passersby equally. But, if he'd e-mailed the messages to a single colleague who had previously objected then I think it would certainly be harassment. So, the question seems to be whether a general e-mail list is the equivalent of a public street corner or a series of individual communications. The court seems to have decided on the former...