Free Speech Group Fights For Reinstatement After KU Proffessor 'Shoot Them' Comment

Wishful thinking and aftermath report in a case not even the most diehard progressive will defend.

However . . .

We've seen this argument before amongst Internets trolls and it's persuasive but doesn't take into account the rights of organizations & outlets to uphold their own standards. 

Here's the crux of the debate . . . 

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — FIRE — sent a letter to KU Chancellor Douglas Girod asking the university to rescind any discipline of Phillip Lowcock, a lecturer in the Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Science. The group argues that Lowcock should not be punished because his statements clearly were rhetoric rather than an actual threat.

The free speech group is arguing that Lowcock should be allowed back in the classroom at KU. In its letter to Girod, which the group headlined as “urgent,” FIRE argues that KU has no right to punish Lowcock because his statement about shooting certain men is “rhetorical hyperbole” that is protected by the First Amendment.

FIRE contends that KU needs to show that Lowcock’s statement is a “true threat” in order to discipline him. Graham Prio, the faculty legal defense fund fellow for FIRE, said in his letter to Girod that it is clear Lowcock was not making an actual threat.

“He did not identify a specific individual or a reasonably identifiable group of men, nor did he suggest that such men line up to be shot on the spot,” Prio wrote. “The comment therefore cannot be reasonably construed as a serious intent to commit unlawful violence.”

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . . Sorry, paywall . . .

National free speech group asks KU to rescind all discipline against professor who talked of political violence