Oakland University student booted over 'Hot for Teacher' essay is now suing [View all]

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Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 06:18 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Detroit Free Press

An Oakland University student kicked out of school after writing an essay titled “Hot for Teacher” is suing the college for more than $2.2 million, claiming the school violated his rights to free speech and freedom of expression.

Joseph Corlett, 57, now lives in Sarasota, Florida after moving from Orion Township. He filed the lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Detroit against Oakland University’s board of trustees, president Gary Russi and vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, Mary Beth Snyder.

“In the end, he just ended up getting suspended from school for completing a homework assignment,” his Detroit lawyer, Alari Adams, said today after filing the lawsuit.

(...)

Corlett says he was unfairly kicked out of school after penning the essay in Sept. 2011 while enrolled in “English 380: Advanced Critical Writing,” taught by Pamela Mitzelfeld. He says the essay, named after the 1984 Van Halen song that glamorizes a student’s lust for his teacher, was a “whimsical exaggeration” of his attraction toward Mitzelfeld.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20130315/NEWS01/130315072/Oakland-University-student-booted-over-Hot-for-Teacher-essay-is-now-suing

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The professor also worried about Corlett being obsessed with guns. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has condemned the university for its speech code that caused Corlett to be punished. The university president wrote back to FIRE explaining why admin would not intervene in defense of Corlett. Here's TYT's take on the case:

As much of a 1st amendment absolutist I personally am--keeping in mind Oakland University is a public university--it's hard to defend this creep.