UW again fires professor for online porn. - eviltoast
  • Null User Object@programming.dev
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    1 month ago

    University of Wisconsin-La Crosse’s former chancellor has lost his job again University of Wisconsin regents on Friday fired Joe Gow.

    Is there an editor in the house? Anyone? Hello?

  • JaymesRS@literature.cafe
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    1 month ago

    Was he showing them in class? If not then there’s no reason to fire him as long as he’s otherwise successfully doing his job.

  • tal@lemmy.today
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    1 month ago

    He fought to keep his job on First Amendment grounds.

    looks dubious

    One of the exceptions to “the government cannot restrict your right to speech” is the government acting in a “government-as-employer” role. There, they can act like any other employer, and don’t have special constraints just because they’re the government. Employers can normally let people go because they think that they’re bad for their image, and that’s what the article said happened here.

    …university leaders said he sullied the school’s reputation and had to go.

    https://www.nyclu.org/resources/know-your-rights/speaking-out-public-employee

    Different rules apply if you are making these comments in your personal time as a private individual. Generally, your statements about topics that are of general interest to the public, including current events, are protected by the First Amendment. However, a public employer in New York may discipline you if your comments either disrupted its work or have the potential to disrupt its work, including by affecting public perception of your employer if you frequently interact with members of the public in your job.

    Now, I suppose you can ask whether the professor publicly releasing porn videos of himself is actually damaging to public perception of the university, but the rationale they used is a legit rationale.