KNOW YOUR PLACE, PEASANT! College suspends student for asking questions about gun control.
The college attempted to persuade Saucier to plead guilty to the charges and undergo counseling. He refused, opting instead for a formal hearing. At the hearing, administrators refused to let him play his recorded video, which he argued would acquit him by showing that he did nothing wrong. Saucier was found guilty of all charges. His suspension was lifted, but any further trouble from him and he will be expelled, administrators said.
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has accused ACC of violating Saucier’s free speech and due process rights by disciplining him for speaking his mind and subjecting him to a sham trial.
“ACC’s myriad violations of Nicholas Saucier’s rights, effective rewriting of its conduct procedures, and failure to rectify its errors should give all Americans great concern,” said Peter Bonilla, director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program, in a statement.
Higher education’s brand is in trouble enough. These kinds of things don’t exactly help with recruiting or PR. I love the way they always try to turn the expression of ideas they don’t like into some sort of security threat. If I were a Connecticut activist, I’d FOIA all the emails on this. And maybe all the budgeting emails, too, just for fun.
And if you support academic freedom, you should consider donating to FIRE. They do good work.