Eminent Domain

In spite of the fact that I am near tears after my Federal Income Tax exam, I'd like to direct everyone's attention to a petition born of the usually unlikely union of Prof. McAdams and the 1832 blog. The petition reads as follows...

Protect MU Students Free Speech Rights
Freedom of expression and the exchange of ideas are essential in an academic setting and should be encouraged rather than punished. The signers of the petition demand that the student who was suspended for expressing his personal beliefs online in a form of a personal blog be fully reinstated to the University and that all disciplinary actions taken against him be overturned. Specifically, the signers of petition believe that the decision by the Marquette University Faculty/Student Conduct Board should be overturned on the following grounds:

Whereas: The Dental School Faculty/Student Conduct Board denied the student a fair hearing

Whereas: "Whereas: The University grossly infringed on his right to freedom of speech by using statements made to a close group of friends on his personal blog against him"

Whereas: The punishment was overly excessive and can be shown to be more than arbitrary and capricious

Whereas: The decision, If upheld, would set a disastrous precedent for student free speech rights and would give the University a seemingly limitless reach into students lives.

Please join Marquette College Democrats, and the blogs of 1832 and The Warrior Blog, and others by signing this petition with your @MU email address if you have one.

I signed it, and everyone else at Marquette should too. The treatment of this dental student is outrageous. It is another black mark on Marquette's record. What message does this send to prospective students? "Come to Marquette University, home of thin-skinned administrators and repression of speech!" Policies and practices like that will only drive students away. It's amazing how much academia has changed. Colleges and universities used to be places of intellectual debate and discussion that encouraged the expression. Now, they have become some of the most fascist organizations in society. I'll be happy when I graduate.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have an Ethics exam tomorrow and I would like to be prepared. It can't be any worse than Tax was. I feel like I was just raped by a grizzly bear...

DISCLAIMER: The previous statement was not meant to be critical of the fairness of the test, the professor, the class itself, the authors of the Internal Revenue Code, the makers of the pen I used on the exam, Marquette University Law School or its policies, Marquette University or its policies, Marquette University Dental School or its policies, Father Jacques Marquette himself, or anyone else who could take offense and get me suspended from school. Thank you.