The College Fix

National Doughnut Day? Not quite.

If you’re wondering how so many modern college students become hypersensitive emotional wrecks at the slightest disagreement or presentation with a challenging idea, look no further than the example set by retiring Oakton Community College President Peg Lee.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is shining a light on the ludicrous overreaction of the school in response to an email from a lecturer who included Lee as a recipient:

On May 1, Chester Kulis sent an email to OCC colleagues that read, “Have a happy MAY DAY when workers across the world celebrate their struggle for union rights and remember the Haymarket riot in Chicago.” The email, titled “May Day – The Antidote to the Peg Lee Gala,” was written in response to a reception hosted by OCC in celebration of the retirement of college president Margaret B. Lee.

Kulis’s purpose was to advocate for better treatment of adjunct faculty. The school interpreted the “Haymarket riot” historical reference as a “true threat,” a constitutionally unprotected form of speech:

In response to Kulis’s email, an attorney representing OCC wrote a cease-and-desist letter to Kulis on May 7, arguing that Kulis’s reference to the Haymarket Riot was a threat of violence because the famous workers’ rally in Chicago “resulted in 11 deaths and more than 70 people injured.” The attorney, Philip H. Gerner III, went on to say that similar future communications could result in legal action.

In its back-and-forth with FIRE, the school maintains that simply mentioning a riot in connection with an authority figure could get the lecturer sued. The suit would get tossed very quickly, of course, and the school would pay Kulis’s legal fees.

But the lesson to faculty would be the same: We will grind you down if you so much as quibble with our leadership.

Read FIRE’s blog post.

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