Can a Professor Be Fired for Doubting Sandy Hook Massacre?

The Inspector

The Inspector

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http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/can-professor-be-fired-doubting-sandy-hook-massacre-n482591

In the three years since his 6-year-old son died in the Sandy Hook massacre, Lenny Pozner has fought an underground movement of conspiracy theorists who claim the attack — and his boy's existence — was an elaborate hoax.
He has complained to police, filed legal injunctions, and, last week, wrote an op-ed in a Florida newspaper targeting his highest-profile skeptic: a communications professor at Florida Atlantic University.
Last week, Florida Atlantic responded by moving to fire Professor James Tracy, a step that could propel the debate from the fringes of the Internet to the halls of academia — and a battle over free speech and academic freedom.

James Tracy is a sick man and is slandering a lot of people.
 

This is the sort of thing that Treacy has been writing

Don’t take my word for it. Just do a search on the title for a free copy of the book.
The Pozners, alas, are as phony as the drill itself, and profiting handsomely from the fake death of their son.
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That sounds a bit like slander to me.

The odd thing about this is that he is employed to teach a course on conspiracy theories

It should come as no surprise, however, that Treacy is a Sandy Hook “truther”—the course he teaches at the university is called “Culture of Conspiracy,” and presents conspiracy theories about major attacks and assassinations in U.S. history, including the September 11, 2001 attacks.
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I wonder what he teaches in that course. The University is a post graduate institution (?) granting Doctorates. In what, one would have to ask.

[h=3]Welcome to Florida Atlantic University[/h]www.fau.edu/



A public, four-year coeducational doctoral degree-granting university serving the southeast coast of Florida.
Part of the State University System of Florida.
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Warrigal said:
This is the sort of thing that Treacy has been writing



That sounds a bit like slander to me.
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Slander, at least to my non-attorney understanding, involves a threat of loss of reputation. Do the Pozner's have a reputation to uphold?

In other words, are they celebrities or public officials? Yes, they may be celebs because they lost their son, but in the eyes of the law?

Just gathering wool here ...

The odd thing about this is that he is employed to teach a course on conspiracy theories
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Exactly - he's being terminated for what he was hired to do.



I wonder what he teaches in that course. The University is a post graduate institution (?) granting Doctorates. In what, one would have to ask.
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I have a PhD in Metaphysics, a post-grad degree which includes teachings that there is no God. Should I then be arrested for heresy?
 
Professors at public universities have the right to say contentious things in their off-campus lives.
There are certain lines that academics cannot cross, said Donald Downs, a law professor and free-speech scholar at the University of Wisconsin. That can include harassment, threats and making it seem as though they're speaking for their employer.
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I think the reason that he was fired might be in the area of "harassment, threats and making it seem that they're speaking for their employer"

[According to the Pozners, the Florida professor has engaged in a campaign of harassment against them, including sending them a certified letter demanding proof that their son ever existed.
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Mr. Tracy’s views have been an increasing embarrassment for Florida Atlantic University and his colleagues there. He has been reprimanded twice: once in 2013 for failing to make clear that his opinions did not represent those of his employer, and again in November for “insubordination and failure to follow university policy.”
The university faces a potentially thorny challenge in stripping a professor of his tenure, an institution fiercely guarded in higher learning.
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It's not about slander or free speech. It appears to be about harassment and failure to follow his employer's policy when making public statements.
 
Warrigal said:
I think the reason that he was fired might be in the area of "harassment, threats and making it seem that they're speaking for their employer"

[According to the Pozners, the Florida professor has engaged in a campaign of harassment against them, including sending them a certified letter demanding proof that their son ever existed.
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It's not about slander or free speech. It appears to be about harassment and failure to follow his employer's policy when making public statements.
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Exactly. So the title of the article is misleading - he isn't being fired for doubting Sandy Hook; he's being terminated for "harassing" the Pozners (something he ostensibly did on his own time?) and, as you said, failure to obey policy.

Everything else is, I think, an appeal to emotions.
 
Hmm, sounds like a doctorate mill to me and maybe the whole place should be terminated...
 
I remember FAU back when it was just swamp and marsh lands in Boca Raton Florida. My daughter, at age 5 or 6 years was going to school there in some sort of preschool thing. The college was just being started in those years. Now I see it has branches in several area localities. What this post is about is sure confusing. Since leaving Florida I have lost track of what all has happened in Boca Raton. And not sure what this thread is all about either.
 
The problem of course, is that as usual after such an incident, there are obviously far too many unanswered questions. In addition, following these incidents, there is far too little prosecutorial follow-up. Anybody follow any grand jury for Sandy Hook ? Just because the perps may have committed suicide or there is more to do, doesn't mean that several grand juries shouldn't be formed.

That there may be too little legal attention, just feeds the idea that too much just in't right, isn't addressed and then there is the video evidence that doesn't fit the reports the public receives.

To answer the question. NO there is such a thing as freedom of speech and there is justifiably a very high bar for any legal action.
 
So Sid, you're saying the more complex a situation becomes, the better? That bringing in armies of lawyers and judges makes things better?

That's how I'm understanding your post - please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
SifuPhil said:
So Sid, you're saying the more complex a situation becomes, the better? That bringing in armies of lawyers and judges makes things better?

That's how I'm understanding your post - please correct me if I'm wrong.
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Well these professions exist for a reason. The lawyers and judges seem to have no problem in or are they avoided, in many much lesser cases. Don't know how it necessarily means this adds any more complexity to the normal process of finding the whole truth. Of course, IF that's the goal and I am not so sure...it is.
 
Sid N said:
Well these professions exist for a reason.
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To make large amounts of money.

(Sorry, I'm in a mood today).


The lawyers and judges seem to have no problem in or are they avoided, in many much lesser cases. Don't know how it necessarily means this adds any more complexity to the normal process of finding the whole truth. Of course, IF that's the goal and I am not so sure...it is.
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I'm not sure that lawyers are ideally suited to finding out the truth of a situation. They are far more often concerned with winning, adding another victory to their record.

Judges? Judges just make sure that the lawyers play within the agreed-upon rules.
 
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