“The trouble had started several hours earlier when Buckingham called Patrick to alert him that an A&M professor had made negative comments about him during a guest lecture at UTMB, said Copelin, the A&M system spokesperson. Buckingham then called Jenny Jones, the university system’s vice chancellor for governmental relations.”
Free speech is only okay for the Reich Wing. If you hold Republicans accountable they will try to hurt you.
“At 4:43 p.m., just 15 minutes after UTMB sent its official censure letter, Jones alerted Patrick’s deputy chief of staff, Marian Wallace, that the investigation was underway.”
There appears to be a structure in place to PREVENT people from criticizing Texas public officials.
But there is also a problem…
“Texas A&M would not answer questions about what specific policy Alonzo may have violated with her comments or provide documents pertaining to the investigation, citing state law that allows a university to withhold such information if a person is cleared of wrongdoing.”
Because there IS NO POLICY. Texas A&M is going to fire someone without reason — other than she criticized a public official and he didn’t like it.
This is SERIOUSLY problematic. It also violates some fundamental rights.
A right cannot be removed because you take a job. We do not swear fealty to public officials.
This stinks of authoritarianism and collusion between University officials and right wing politicians.
Needless to say, it is wrong.
Followup to the story:
"Ultimately Texas A&M allowed Alonzo to keep her job after an internal investigation could not confirm any wrongdoing.”
In other words they couldn’t find ANYTHING to show that she violated policy.
But it gets even weirder...
Weirder…
NO ONE COULD SAY WHAT SHE SAID THAT WAS OFFENSIVE!
When this happens again, who is to say someone won’t just make something up?
This is very disturbing and very scary.
@feloneouscat It is all about the power play. I am sure any hint of putting him in a bad light was enough for him to flex his muscle and try to intimidate her.
@feloneouscat "Farmers fight!"*
* not for academic freedom
"In a statement, Texas A&M University System spokesperson Laylan Copelin said Sharp’s text to Patrick was a 'typical update,' saying it is not unusual for the chancellor to 'keep elected officials informed when something at Texas A&M might interest them.’"
“Typical update”? Since when do elected officials have veto power over the speech of our University Profs? This MINIMIZATION of State observation of our schools is a little disturbing.
https://news.yahoo.com/texas-m-suspended-professor-accused-100000525.html