Ohio university pays out $400,000 to Christian professor 'for violating his First Amendment Rights'

[melm00se]

41. A few comments

1. the department head screwed the pooch for the school.

Comments like

Christians are “primarily motivated out of fear” and should be “banned from teaching courses
regarding that religion.”

“presence of religion in higher education is counterproductive.”

are clearly discriminatory on the basis of religion which is a protected class.

See page 4 of the opinion.

2. The university provost didn't help the school's case either.

The Shawnee State faculty union filed a grievance against the university on behalf of Meriweather and at the hearing the provost "repeatedly interrupted the representative and made clear that he would not discuss the academic freedom and religious discrimination aspects of the case". Additionally the provost "openly laughed" and was "so hostile that the union representative “was not able to present the grievance.”" Not surprisingly, the provost denied the grievance. See page 8 of the ruling.

3. Neither did the Shawnee State’s Labor Relations Director and General Counsel:

The officials agreed with the union that Meriwether’s conduct had not “created a hostile
educational environment.”...But they recommended ruling against Meriwether anyway.

So, in essence, they agreed that Meriweather did not create a hostile environment but was going to punished for it anyway.

HUH???

I would suggest picking up the ruling at page 10 which details prior precedent for 1st Amendment cases.

To be fair, the University did raise some counter-arguments but it appears that whoever did this failed basic civics classes as it relates to the roles of the Supreme Court and inferior courts (or, in other words, who runs the show when it comes to rulings).

I really would suggest that anyone interested in commenting on this case actually read the ruling it is only 32 pages long and is fairly easy to read.

https://adflegal.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Meriwether-v-The-Trustees-Shawnee-State-University-6th-Circuit-Opinion.pdf

But I doubt most will because it runs counter to their own sincerely held beliefs and because Prof. Meriweather is a Christian he is not and should not be afforded any constitutional protection as it does not fit into their narrative.