Psychology Grad Student Fights Political Correctness--and Wins
A psychology graduate student, Andrew Geier, took on the administration at the University of Pennsylvania in a stand for free speech. A student Mr. Geier was advising took pictures of two students having sex in a public place and put it up on his personal website through the University's servers. Penn says that the student is guilty of sexual harrassment:
Geier says he was disgusted with the the treatment of Penn students by the Office of Student Conduct--students are often intimidated into signing unfair agreements. But that practice may stop with the help of the media and with brave men like Mr. Geier.
If you would like to see the shocking naked photos that caused this flurry of political correcteness at Penn see this pic at collegehumor.com . It ain't much.
Thanks to the reader who pointed out this interesting story.
The University has alleged that by featuring the photo on his personal Penn Web site, the photographer violated the school's code of student conduct, sexual harassment policy and policy on acceptable uses of electronic resources.
Psychology graduate student Andrew Geier is serving as the photographer's advisor throughout the disciplinary process. He maintains that because the pair was visible in the window, the photos were taken in public and are completely legal.
"The worst [he] is guilty of is poor taste," Geier said.
"If somebody chooses to make a public spectacle of themselves then they get what goes with that."
His representative received a letter last month from the Office of Student Conduct notifying Geier of a complaint filed against the Engineering junior.
Geier says he was disgusted with the the treatment of Penn students by the Office of Student Conduct--students are often intimidated into signing unfair agreements. But that practice may stop with the help of the media and with brave men like Mr. Geier.
If you would like to see the shocking naked photos that caused this flurry of political correcteness at Penn see this pic at collegehumor.com . It ain't much.
Thanks to the reader who pointed out this interesting story.
posted by Helen at 8:08 AM
12 Comments:
I agree that Penn was wrong and it's just as well that it backed down. But is it courage in the face of political correctness? Not so fast.
First, to get some details straight: A junior majoring in engineering was one of several who took photos of two other students having sex at the window in a university dorm room. (Probably the dorm room of one of them.) The article does not say that Geier was advising the student when he did this. Instead, Geier acted as the student's lawyer in disciplinary proceedings. The university wanted the student to write a letter of apology to the students that he photographed.
So basically, the two students having sex were victims of amateur tabloid journalism. I think that everyone understands that tabloid journalism is common obnoxiousness, not any kind of courage. It may be protected speech, but that is as far as at it goes. There is nothing remotely unfair about the student writing a letter of apology for this. If it were my son in college, I would make him do it.
The only point on which Penn is wrong is that it is not the mommy and daddy of its students. It should, as Edwin Baker suggests, follow legal standards of free speech, not parental standards.
On the other hand, think what would happen if this incident had taken place at Bob Jones University. We may recall that Bush and McCain debated there in the 2000 presidential election. Bob Jones really does act as a proxy parent of its students. If it had happened there, then I suspect that the photographer would have been expelled, not just asked to write a letter of apology, and that the students he photographed would have been expelled with him.
Indeed, until 2000, Bob Jones even banned interracial dating.
Well, I don't know why Dr. Kuperberg had to work in his usual anti-Right comments (the Bush-McCain debates at a far right wing college, and even bringing up unpleasant---though now changed---policies at that institution), but he does like to argue multiple points simultaneously.
That is his right, of course. But I would suggest that staying on topic would be the best approach. And this case is serious.
For one thing, the student will get a "sexual harassment" flag in his file. The administration says that it won't be evident on a transcript, but the actual article says:
"The photographer's transcript would not reflect the disciplinary measures, but an outside agency or organization seeking a legal background check on him could gain access to the information."
So do you think that a "sexual harassment" charge, even if unfounded, will NOT impact employability? Since what the photographer did is NOT sexual harassment, I'm definitely a defender of the student, who is guilty of poor taste.
And if we flag student folders with comments about poor taste, I hate to think of how many folders would be expanded!
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has made a big splash defending students on the Left AND on the Right from ridiculous and unconstitutional academic attempts to stifle or punish free expression (meaning, expression the academic institution does not like).
They are far more eloquent on this case than I can be. Check out their thoughts at:
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/6512.html
I also recommend FIRE as a worthy institution to watch.
Sorry for the long post,
"Eric Blair"
Jonathan: It is a consistent philosophy that the strong can prey on the weak as long as it's legal. It's not the way that I was brought up. I see a lot of room between the boundary of the law and the boundary of moral behavior. I don't think that tabloids are remotely fair to celebrities — they way that they zoom in with telephoto lenses and pay sources to relate overheard conversations. What happened at Penn is not much better than that. It is clearly a form of harassment, just not unlawful or necessarily actionable harassment.
I agree that having sex at the window of a dorm room is generally a dumb idea. But it was not the photographer's place to punish these people. What he did crossed the line from ridicule to interfering with their personal lives. He posted photos of the entire building, so that people can find out whose dorm room it was. Having done that, it seems to me that he hardly deserves his own confidentiality. Penn is really bending over backwards in not giving out his name.
Eric: Even if this incident is tabloid harassment rather than sexual harassment, it would be just desserts if it affected the student's employability. He does not deserve much better than to have his name posted under the photographs he took with the caption, "prospective employers may also take note of John Doe's interest in photography." I would wonder what photographs or photocopies he would take at my workplace. People do leave confidential letters lying around from time to time, which of course they shouldn't, but it is not an invitation to post the material on the web. His only real excuse is that he is still young. People can eventually be forgiven for things that they do at age 20.
As for Bob Jones University, my point is that organizations like F.I.R.E. are hypocritical. They hold Penn to a standard that Bob Jones violates every minute of the day. Bob Jones may no longer ban interracial dating, but that only means that it left the 19th century, not that it entered the 21st century. They have a curfew, they ban fornication, and they even censor Internet access. At Bob Jones, you would get in trouble for carrying in the Philadelphia newspaper that had the Penn sex photo on the cover. Undoubtedly F.I.R.E. would criticize Bob Jones if you pressed them, but it's not the same thing. When they can give their causes an anti-liberal slant, they are as righteous as Sean Hannity. When they can't, they are as feeble as Alan Colmes. Their game is a set-up.
Even so, I do not think that people should stuff cotton into their ears just because F.I.R.E. is hypocritical. Even hypocrites are right from time to time. In this case, I agree that Penn tried to do too much.
Sigh. Here I go, replying to a troll. Dr. Helen, I need medication!
But I cannot stand to see hard work and dedication dismissed so easily. Some folks might read Dr. Kuperberg's comments and form a judgment about FIRE without knowing enough about the organization.
Dr. Kuperberg, have you spent much time reading the FIRE website? Have you followed the various cases---both on the Left AND the Right---that they have worked on? Recently, FIRE has taken heat for defending cases that certainly don't fall into a typical Right wing rubric, including:
1. Stetson University's attempt to ban any kind of "derogatory" speech, including jokes by Jay Leno.
2. Hampton College's attempt to punish students for handing out anti-Bush and anti-war leaflets in the student center.
3. Warren County Community College's attempt to discipline a professor for e-mailing harsh pro-Left comments to a student conservative group.
4. Seminole Community College's attempt to prevent a student from passing out PETA literature in the campus commons.
5. Occidental College's attempt to smear and expel a student for non-PC satire on a campus radio show.
Heck, they even think Ward Churchill has a right to rant what I consider to be pernicious nonsense on campus. See:
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/5252.html
These aren't the actions of an organization concerned with right wing issues, folks. These are not the actions of hypocrites, despite the all knowing commentary of Dr. Kuperberg.
These are the actions of a group of lawyers and scholars with deep concern for academic freedom, regardless of partisan issues.
But then, Dr. Kuperberg, you know all this because you read over the FIRE website carefully before smearing their hard work and dedication, right?
Sure.
Don't get me wrong. It is fine to criticize an organization, even in a cavalier and offhand fashion. People have a right to an opinion, even if it is an uninformed and baseless one. But remember that FIRE exists to protect the rights of people like Dr. Kuperberg, even as he insults them in a convoluted and unfair fashion.
Based on previous experience, Dr. Kuperberg will of course now wriggle like a worm on a hook, employing debate tactics and bringing up other arguments---like the Scott Adams guide discussed on this site some time ago. Fine. For Dr. Kuperberg, all of this is fun and games, a chance to bicker with electrons.
But his comment suggesting that FIRE is pro-Right and hypocritical is uncalled for and more to the point, inaccurate. Dr. Kuperberg knows perfectly well, as an academic with a history of federal grant support in and out of his department, how Bob Jones differs from Penn. Private institutions that do not accept Federal subsidies have different rules than public institutions like Penn. Again, as an accomplished academic, Dr. Kuperberg knows that. It's just a game to him.
Here is a pointer to a long, long list of FIRE's cases on both sides of the aisle:
http://www.thefire.org/index.php/case/
The smearing of FIRE by suggesting that they somehow support Bob Jones University is uncalled for, particularly from an academic.
But all that is beside the point.
Dr. Kuperberg seems quite cavalier about allowing a silly act of bad taste to allow a student into the unforgiving jaws of the PC industry---that is, dealing with an unfair and inaccurate "sexual harassment" charge in the student's file.
This is the point of the FIRE piece. Dr. Kuperberg and I (for I am an academic, too) have seen plenty of cases where the PC Police damage a student, damage that remains with them all of their lives.
"Just desserts" to see a student's future employability damaged? Surely Dr. Kuperberg is just being his usual contrarian self.
May I gently suggest that every one of us---even dare I say Dr. Kuperberg himself---has done things in our youth of which we are not proud as an adult. A charge of sexual harassment---and again, that WOULD be the notation in the student file---is certainly not just in this case.
Yep, I broke my own rule and replied to Dr. Kuperberg's faux Olympian detachment and his Wonderful World of Flexible Standards. It's all about the argument to him, I know, but I have seen far, far, FAR too many students and academics have lives damaged by PC nonsense.
Dr. Kuperberg, I sincerely hope that you are never judged by people like yourself.
Or perhaps I do, sir.
Thanks for your patience, all.
"Eric Blair"
This is not only a big loss for political correctness is a big win for common sense
Some of the photos showed the location of the room in the dorm building. Anyone who attends Penn and who saw that photo can figure out whose dorm it was.
On the other hand, Penn has so far protected the photographer's identity. As soon as we find out his name, we can consider whether he is a victim or not.
Dr. K. is still spouting off, after getting his head handed to him for smearing groups with even bothering to research them?
The difference in his post, of course, is that there is no proof of who is in a dorm room---guests, friends, visitors, etc,---because no faces and identities are in the photograph. Revealing the name of the photographer REVEALS THE NAME OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER.
This is a very different situation, as even a snob of a Ph.D. mathematician "above it all" could normally perceive.
Well, I don't think it is productive to slam Dr. Kuperberg too much. After all, I made it clear that he hadn't bothered to research much about the organization FIRE before trying to smear it by association with Bob Jones University (talk about the Scott Adams strategy of straying from the point!).
But in this Univ. of Penn. case, I would suggest that people familiarize themselves about the case carefully before bloviating (and most people have been quite thoughtful about the case). Here is a good website with lots of articles from different media sources.
http://thefire.org/index.php/schools/1452
Sure, it is from the FIRE website that Dr. Kuperberg feels is hypocritical, but I have shown that the gentleman was quite simply uninformed. It is a great resource for First Amendment issues, particularly as they pertain to academe.
"Eric Blair"
Its just like what happened at PENN STATE a few year ago when a student was trying to study some black women outside were making a distraction loud noise he stuck his head out the window and yelled HEY SHUT UP YOU WATER BUFFALO he got expelled becuase that the fact the women were blacks and that the water buffalo is a large black animal he fought back and the PENN STATE officials were forced to readmit him or the other students who were told to remove T-Shirt like a NRA T-Shirt showing various weapons or one studeent who told to remove his STREIGHT PRIDE T-Shirt or the case in southern calfornia about another student who was expelled for wearing a T-Shirt showing a little mexican watching a sunrise with the words IT DOSNR MATTER WHERE YOU GO AS LONG AS YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR GOING these student all fought back and were all readmited
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