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January 31, 2005
Student Expelled for Thinking
If this story is accurate it reflects very poorly on the school and goes against the traditions of free academic inquiry. LeMoyne College apparently expelled a student named Scott McConnell for writing a paper in favor of corporal punishment for students. No one from the school is quoted in the article and the author does not mention trying to contact representatives from the school, so there may be other reasons, but if the story is true this is very disturbing. Students should not be expelled for expressing unpopular views as long they are honest while doing so. They should not get bad grades (which does not seem to be the case here) for expressing unpopular views as long as they express the views well and the views are relevant to the subject at hand.
To quote a recent George Will article about Harvard president Larry Summers, "He thought he was speaking in a place that encourages uncircumscribed intellectual explorations. He was not. He was on a university campus."
Update 1/31/05: Captain's Quarters has much more including a link to this article which gives more details. He was a conditional student and received a letter from a professor that said "I have grave concerns regarding the mismatch between your personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the Le Moyne College program goals."
Posted by Pete at January 31, 2005 04:59 PM
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Scott McConnell, a student in the masters of Education program at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, got an A- on his paper. He also was kicked out of school because of it. [Read More]
Tracked on February 1, 2005 05:22 AM