More National News

There was another story about the actions of the Butler administration in The Huffington Post this afternoon (linked on the right). This time, the blogger discusses the internal disciplinary process: He describes it as a “kangaroo court” and compares the fact that I will be tried by Butler to the failed Guantanamo Bay policies of the Bush administration. When this ordeal started, I had no idea that we would be getting such consistent, and favorable, national news coverage, but it certainly has been refreshing to see that people around the country agree that the way the administration has handled this situation is crazy.

In a few days, I’ll be talking more widely about what the administration at Butler has been doing to me, and the effect their actions might have on freedom of speech nationally. On Wednesday, I’ll be on Culture Shocks with Barry Lynn. Culture Shocks is a national radio show that has a wide audience in a number of cities across the country and is also available online (cultureshocks.com). Lynn is the director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and is a well known commenter who has appeared on many political shows, running the gamut from The O’Reilly Factor to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. According to his website, “The show examines issues and trends in today’s culture wars through conversations with and about some of the most fascinating figures of our times.” While the circumstances are certainly unfortunate, I am excited to talk about everything that has happened. I hope to touch on a range of topics: From my reasons for writing The True BU blog last year, to the administration aggressively threatening to sue me and discipline me on campus for the last six months, to the possibility of an unfair trial during internal disciplinary procedures. Additionally, I suspect we’ll talk about the impact that all of this will have on our campus and on other campuses.

An important development today: The Butler attorney dismissed the lawsuit in Marion County court. It may have taken them a week to do it, but I’m confident that this action was a direct reaction to the pressure being put on them by you. While it is a step in the right direction, and keeps Butler from being the first school to follow through on a lawsuit against a student for online speech (They’re still the first to file a suit against online speech…), our fight is nowhere near over. As mentioned in The Huffington Post, they still plan to try me on campus, in a manner that I suspect will have a similar chilling effect on free speech and dissent both at Butler and elsewhere. We need to be strong in our message to the administration, to the trustees, and to the community that we value the free flow of ideas that exists on college campuses. One way to do that, if you have not already, is to sign the petition (www.ipetitions.com/petition/butler) that was created by Friends of Jess Zimmerman that calls for an apology to the community for filing the lawsuit and an apology to me for their threats and actions in the last few months. Though dropping the lawsuit is a good step, the administration has made no progress towards fulfilling the demands mentioned in the petition. If you have signed the petition, thank you for your support and I urge you to go back and look at what our friends from Butler and across the country have written. There are some really powerful things being said by many distinguished people.