Court: 'Racially charged' e-mail is protected

[The Straight Story]

Court: 'Racially charged' e-mail is protected


(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&tsp=1#ixzz0oYtqxnRh