It’s still hate speech.
Hypothetically, if a student were to write an unambiguous death threat would anyone have a problem with tracking him down then?
Thank you for those links. Unfortunately, I typed that post and submitted it 15 or so minutes later without getting a chance to read your post.
What is the purpose of a promise of anonymity if not for controversial remarks . My understanding is that hate speech is constututionally protected in America, and that educational institutions are partially funded by the government.
I had always thought that the reason there are so many controversial professors at the universities is that there is a belief in allowing professors to speak their minds. Same should go for the students.
Clearly Beck is an idiot. However his professor’s reaction will do more to harm the gay community than an “anonymous” private evaluation sheet. Has anyone ever heard of an evaluation by a student to a professor go public before?
And I saw no evidence of a death threat, which would have changed my reaction.
Meh…
It’s really more the case that the teacher compared the handwriting in the evaluations and his exams to identify who he thought was responsible. The school initially said “They’re anonymous evals.” I’m curious what (if anything) is planned for the teacher for violating the university’s anonymity promise.
And while the evaluation comments were dumb, and the evaluator probably has some sexuality issues, and I can’t see any reason for the teacher to bring up his sexual orientation in class… has it been investigated whether the teacher’s views on homosexualty are interfering in the class? I.E., is the evaluation complaint valid, though tactlessly expressed? Or is this just some kid mad he’s failing the class lashing out at his teacher in a hateful way?
The major issue I see here is the teacher comparing the “anonymous” evaluations and his old exams to breach confidentiality. It isn’t news that some college fratboy douche is a homophobe.
I find this quote from that article to be wonderfully ironic:
This from a group of people whose members often value their anonymity and would react angrily to being exposed in the face of a promise to the contrary.
Ostensibly, it’s to stop instructors from retaliating against students by lowering their grades, and to encourage more honest critiques. It’s not to facilitate hate speech.
You are right that hate speech is constitutionally protected. However, it is not correct that any and all speech is necessarily permitted on college campuses. Students have to sign a contract stating that they will obey stipulated “codes of conduct” as a condition of attending the school. These codes can and do require students to refrain from harrassing other students or instructors. Hate speech can be construed as harrassment and evidently it was construed as such in this case.
What exactly do you mean by “hate speech”?
If a student writes “I really hate the class and the professor” on an eval, is that hate speech? It even includes the word “hate.”
You know what it means. I’m not going to play this game.
I doubt that a contract prohibiting “hate speech” (whatever that means) would stand up in court, if required by a public university.
I would not. Actual threats violate the law, not arbitrary standards of speech that are created in individual institutions.
(I am also amused by the reported reaction by the LGBT “community,” although I would tend to attribute that comment to the spokesperson(s) of advocacy groups who make a point of keeping their concerns in the news rather than assuming that any large number of LGBT people actually want confidentiality to be violated on a regular basis. Of course, in an ox fight. . . .)
Lol. Actually, I don’t know what you mean.
But anyway, let’s suppose for the sake of argument that the student writes down “The professor always made an issue of his homosexuality. I have a problem with this because I really can’t stand homosexuals.”
By your standard, apparently that student’s anonymity should be broken and he or she should be punished. Simply for combining a fair criticism with an honest statement of his or her feelings.
A proposition that instructor Disponzio pretty thoroughly trashed in exerting the effort he did to track down the author.
It would be interesting to discover whether the school or his dean even mentioned that aspect in discussions with him, given the lack of illegal activity in the evaluations. (Probanly not since they, too, have bought into the “threat” claim.)
Incidentally and appropo of nothing, I see no reason that student evals should ever be taken. I can’t see any reason why the opinions of the students should be of any use or value whatsoever to how a university evaluates instructors.
Apropos. Just FYI.
Yes, you do.
I suppose that I will not be able to stop this hijack into the realm of straw man arguments, but I really see no point to you trying to drag this thread off in this direction.
I didn’t know you were teaching college. 
LOL. Yes you do.
Obviously, that would be an imbecilic, content free eval bordering on hate speech. Would I have a problem with his anonymity being violated? Not really. Would I try to track him down myself? No.
Why do you assume the instructor brought it up? Students are some of the most gossipy people in the world. I had a couple of major professors in college who were gay but who never made it known in their classrooms. It was just common knowledge among both the student body and faculty.
It actually isn’t even important if the guy is gay. The perception of such is all that is required to meet the legal standard of harrassment.
You’re kidding, right? The students’ opinions of an instructor are of no value to the university’s evaluation of the instructors? So if an instructor’s lecture consists of incoherent mumbling in class or gives test questions totally unrelated to anything covered in lectures or reading assignments, or is unavailable during office hours or is available during office hours but refuses to help the student, this shouldn’t be taken into account? And if it should, how do you propose to measure it?
Actually, I see brazil’s point here. This hypothetical situation is pretty much what Dio’s point of view leads to, and it’s because of this very question that the professor and the university are in the wrong.
I’ve already provided a reason why. College professors are there to teach. If students find them obnosious assholes then it’s up to the school to correct the situation or find another teacher.