Sunday, December 1, 2019

U Iowa Officials Might Be Personally Liable For Discrimination






By Professor Doom



      One thing which perhaps drives me the most nuts about the corruption in our higher education system (and to a similar extent in our corporate system) is how when the corruption is found out, the people, the actual human beings, who are responsible for the corruption get away free, while the institution pays some sort of fine. This is even more infuriating when the institution is supported to a large extent by tax dollars (and do note that almost all institutions of higher education are supported to a large extent by tax dollars).


       When one considers just how much these guys rake in, and how often they get glorious golden parachutes when they leave even under the most vile of clouds of disrepute, it only gets more angering.


       But, finally, it’s possible actual people will start paying the price for “institutional” crimes:


Court holds University of Iowa officials personally liable for discriminating against Christian club



     Well over a year ago, students at a Christian student organization found themselves being targeted by the administration at a state university. They complained, but naturally the administrators denied everything. The students took the university to court…where the students won gloriously, with the judge finding blatant discrimination against them.


     University’s selective enforcement against religious groups ‘incredibly baffling’




     The judge might have found the enforcement baffling, but the gentle reader, or anyone who’s been following the endless screams of the Left (or the DNC) knows it to be par for the course, as progressive beliefs are nothing if not hypocritical. So, Trump asking about corruption in a phone call is a horrible crime…while the actual corrupt crime being committed so that a son gets millions in taxpayer-funded kickbacks means nothing. I could go on quite some time with this, of course.


     …denied officials qualified immunity…



      The above legal expression is huge: the “leaders” at the school can’t simply hide behind “it’s policy” any more than Concentration camp guards could hide behind “I was following orders.” Finally, the penalties for their bigoted, intolerant behavior will not longer simply fall on the school…the ideologues running the place, at least here, might one day wake up in their palaces to find that they don’t own the palace any more.


       About frickin’ time.

Vice President for Student Life...Coordinator for Student Organization Development...and Associate Dean of Student Organizations...will be held personally liable for violating the “clearly established right to free speech” 






     Look at those titles! As always, I point out how the admin on our campuses have ridiculously splendiferous titles, well over twice as long as their name. And this time around…those titles won’t protect them from their wrongdoing.


        About frickin’ time, I say again.


     The Poo-Bah himself as well as the “Student Misconduct and Title IX investigator” might also find themselves on the proper side of the damages, but it remains to be seen to what excent (as, admittedly, for the ones I’ve named above).


      Maybe they’ll all slip away, it’s very possible as these edu-fascists get to use endless university money to defend themselves from the consequences of their activities. That the taxpayer pays both the prosecution and the defense doesn’t please me much, but…still. That actual human beings might pay the price instead of suffering taxpayers is a very big change.


     Key to the reason for this ruling was the incredible bias of the “leaders” on campus. The Christian groups were targeted, banned from campus, because they refused to have openly (note: openly) gay students as their club officers.


     The reasoning, of course, was the school prohibits restricting anything based on sexual orientation and race and whatnot. Fair enough, perhaps, although “freedom of association” is a thing we should respect.


     Meanwhile, the pro-LGBTQ groups were not targeted for mandating their officers be part of the LGBTQ community, or for the “black engineers” club for restricting membership to black engineering majors. Baffling, indeed.


     What has the judge so furious here that is the university was warned time and again to stop with the bias, was instructed specifically on how to behave.


      Of course, my own experience in higher ed has taught me how  impossible it is to get the “leaders” to act with integrity—by their own definitions, everything they do is so “woke” that they won’t change, even with a court order:


…I told you what to do and you did the exact opposite of that?


     The lashing from the judge was considerable:


…the University of Iowa may not selectively go after students based on what they think…unless you’re going to do it evenly, equally.



     The poor judge apparently doesn’t understand that Progressives really do want to be the thought police, with a heavy does of “rules for thee but not for me.” While, no, I don’t think this ruling will influence the edu-fascists running many of our other campuses, but it sets a precedent that not only will those campuses be destroyed, the tax plunderers who are truly responsible for the destruction might, someday, pay the price as well.


…the judge mocked the universities claim…



    It really is funny when these leaders/clowns get to a real court and find the “explanations” that cowed faculty accept just don’t fly at all in a courtroom. The gentle reader should understand: those personal protections were not removed lightly, the administrators involved really, really, angered the judge with their offensively bigoted behavior.


     A few snippets from the comments section:


Any settlement should require the termination of these three administrators. This discrimination will stop only when administrators realize their jobs are on the line if they perpetrate it.



     Another thing that drives me nuts is how when admin get fired for their indiscretions, it takes no effort for them to land another plum position in higher ed. I doubt these types of settlements will change that, alas.


How do you go about quantifying the damages for this sort of constitutional violation? The group was prevented from meeting, participating in the life of the campus, and expressing their views. What sort of price tag do you attach to that?




      The above, unfortunately, is the problem. Much as deplatforming of the small independent voices happens without notice, and with such minimal financial impact that a lawsuit wouldn’t be worthwhile, when these arrogant-as-heck individuals finally have to pay damages, what would it be? $20, maybe? 


     And yet the damage this sort of behavior does to our students is immeasurable, even if not necessarily financial. Without a firm ruling, Christians will get the idea not to come to campus, and the ideologues already there will see the “penalty” for their behavior is inconsequential even with a court order against it. I hope the judge keeps that in mind.




www.professorconfess.blogspot.com



 







4 comments:

  1. The most famous teachers in history; e.g. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha; did not have a staff organization several layers deep. Most professors today, including me, know from experience that most people on a campus outside the classroom contribute little or nothing to the actual teaching-learning process for which education was originally created.

    I expect my first great-granddaughter next March and I fear for the dysfunctional, dystopian society into which she will be born. I’m a disabled veteran who pledged my life for hope of a better tomorrow under the oldest extant government on earth. I’m too old to charge and maneuver, but I will stand a post and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

    I pray for leaders who will tell me which direction to fire!

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    Replies
    1. The good news, for what it's worth, is I believe more people are starting to understand are worst enemies are not the foreign ones, and moreover, that the domestic ones truly exist in numbers.

      Delete
  2. An appropriate fine might be $1 million per affected student, per week. Each.

    That all current students and the next crop of potential students were affected was, of course, the whole point of the exercise for the Orwellian monsters.

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  3. Most of the new positions at universities are 'commisars' whose job is to enforce the edicts of the Dearl Leaders who run communist organizations.

    ReplyDelete