Tributes praising Barbara Bush have been coming from all over the world. Those tributes are well deserved. She was a devoted wife, a loving mother, and her public life was outstanding and beyond reproach.
The passing of this wonderful lady has also showed us what is wrong with higher education in America. Our colleges and universities have become nests for America-hating professors who try to indoctrinate students rather than educate them. It is hard to imagine that a professor would sink so low as to tweet the most deplorable and hateful statements about Barbara Bush, but a professor at California State University at Fresno managed to do so.
Randa Jarrar, an Arab-American Muslim, is an English professor at Fresno State. She couldn’t wait to spew forth her hatred for Barbara Bush and the rest of the bush family, calling Mrs. Bush a witch, an amazing racist, and all the Bushes pieces of shit. Here is what this bitch tweeted on Tuesday:
“PSA: either you are against these pieces of shit and their genocidal ways or you’re part of the problem. that’s actually how simple this is. I’m happy the witch is dead. can’t wait for the rest of her family to fall to their demise the way 1.5 million iraqis have. byyyeeeeeee.”
“Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. Fuck outta here with your nice words.”
Jarrar taunted her critics by tweeting that she was a tenured professor making $100,000 a year and “I will never be fired.”
Jarrar may indeed never be fired, but the bitch can be fired and she should be fired forthwith!
Marxist professors and other uber-left professors believe that freedom of speech and academic freedom protect them from getting fired and give them carte blanch to say whatever they want. Even many college administrators believe that. They are wrong, dead wrong!
The courts have ruled that freedom of speech has its limits and can have undesirable consequences.
I happen to be quite familiar with the “Principles of Academic Freedom” which were formulated by the American Association of University Professors and which are religiously adhered to by the nation’s colleges and universities. Like freedom of speech, these principles have red lines, that if crossed, allow the offending faculty member to be fired. Jarrar clearly crossed one of those red lines.
Fresno State’s president at first implied Jarrar would not be fired because she made her despicable remarks as a “private citizen” and that they did not reflect the views of the university. That doesn’t fly at all. Let’s take a police officer protected by civil service regulations as an example. If he were to make statements about Barbara Bush on social media like Jarrar did, he would be fired forthwith, civil service protections notwithstanding. Although he would have made those deplorable statements as a private citizen, he is still a representative of his police agency. And it’s the same with tenure.
Under a barrage of criticism, the president backtracked on Wednesday by telling the Sacramento Bee that “A professor with tenure does not have blanket protection to say and do what they wish. We are all held accountable for our actions.”
If Jarrar does not get fired, I don’t know what is more shameful ….. what she said about Barbara Bush and the Bush family, or the fact that Fresno State would not fire her.
As for the departed former First Lady, Barbara Bush was a role model for this nation’s First Ladies and a giant among midgets. Her passing is America’s loss. I join all those who have sent their condolences to the Bush family. And I pray to God that her passing will not further deteriorate the health of George H. W. Bush, her loving husband of 72 years.
Howie: First, I think Barbara Bush was a national treasure. And so is her husband. (I’m not saying that about their kids).
As to that professor and your theory that a civil service protected police officer would be fired for making the same statements, maybe so but I’d represent him when he sues the shit out of his agency. And, I’d write a thank you letter to the mayor and chief of police when I used their money to buy my new yacht.
All public employees have First Amendment rights, including the right to speak out on matters of public interest regarding their own agencies.
When some dumbass government employee makes a stupid, it’s likely to be protected by the First Amendment, the same First Amendment that allows, for instance, you to criticize Harris County DA Kim Ogg. In fact, it’s the same First Amendment that protects Sean Hannity when he makes factually incorrect statements defending President Trump and criticizing his opponents.
Tom, this area has many examples of public servants that found their free speech rights were not as strong as you suggest, I have hired several of them in the past and they explained in detail how neither the ACLU or any of the high powered attorney’s would take their cases on contingency. Harris County and the city of Houston will simply find a pretext reason to fire or punish such free speech and the courts will bend over backwards to uphold. One case that comes to mind involved an officer by the name of Tom Nixon(sp?) who spoke out against his agency’s pursuit policy being fired, another involved a deputy that was reassigned based on his comments about illegal immigrants, but there are many such cases from what I’ve been told so I lean toward Howie’s take on it.
Especially in civil rights employment cases, the Fifth Circuit is incredibly deferential to employers. That means, they look for a chance to screw an employee who claims his firing or other adverse job action violated either his constitutional rights or antidiscrimination laws. And for 1983 suits alleging violations of constitutional rights, the federal courts have a doctrine known as qualified immunity. That means that a police officer can shoot you dead and not have to worry about civil liability for violating your federal constitutional rights unless there are court opinions clearly showing his actions are constitutional violations. And, the Fifth Circuit is one of the most conservative federal appellate courts.
As for taking cases on contingency fee basis, most lawyers, including me the few times I’ve considered doing tort law, it’s a gamble for the lawyer. However, federal 1983 cases alleging deprivation of constitutional rights by states have the civil rights attorney’s fee act allowing attorneys to get fees from losing defendants based on the reasonable fee, not on the recovery. So, in theory a lawyer can get a huge fee on a small recovery.
Basically, what you’re saying is that federal courts aren’t protecting the free speech rights of government employees. I don’t disagree.
As a citizen of the United States, Ms. Jarrar is perfectly within her rights to say, write, preach or publish whatever inane, poisonous drivel she wishes. The 1st Amendment protects her from Government interference with her speech: “Congress shall make no law. . . abridging the freedom of speech. . . ”
However, as an employer Fresno State has the right to set standards for the people they employ. This is an accepted fact in the workplace. Lots of employers have morals clauses for instance. Employers can require employees to abstain from smoking, or drug use. Employees (even government employees) can be prohibited from discussing certain subjects and can be fired if they do so.
This in no way abridges the persons freedom of speech. The Constitution guarantees that you can’t be prosecuted for speaking – it doesn’t guarantee that you can’t get fired because you’ve pissed off your boss.
Fat Albert: Government employees have greater protection from being fired than do people who work for private employers. That’s because the Bill of Rights protects us from government actions, not private actions. As a private employer in Texas, an employment at will state, you can hire or fire based on any reason that is not illegal. So, you can’t fire because of race or because an employee had jury duty or refused to commit a crime for you. But you can fire an employee because you don’t like his haircut or the car he drives.