Marquette University suspends professor for defending student who opposes gay marriage

Gay activist vandalizes pro-marriage sign

Here’s the back story from Fox News.

Excerpt:

Students who oppose gay marriage are homophobic, according to an audio recording of a Marquette University instructor who went on to say that gay right issues cannot be discussed in class because it might offend homosexuals.

I reached out to the 20-year-old student at the center of this outrageous episode and the story he tells should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks religious schools are safe havens for open discourse.

The story was first reported on a blog run by a Marquette University professor and was picked up by the good folks over at The College Fix.

The young man, who asked not to be identified, explained what happened when his ethics instructor, Cheryl Abbate, led a conversation in “Theory of Ethics” class about applying philosophical theories to modern political controversies. There were a list of issues on the board – gay rights, gun rights, and the death penalty.

“We had a discussion on all of them – except gay rights,” the student told me. “She erased that line from the board and said, ‘We all agree on this.’”

Well, as it so happened – the student did not agree with instructor Abbate.

So after class he approached the instructor and told her he thought they should have discussed the issue of gay rights. He also recorded their conversation — without her permission.

I’ll cut to the bottom line of that conversation:

“Are you saying if I don’t agree with gays not being allowed to get married that I’m homophobic?” the student asked.

“I’m saying it would come off as a homophobic comment in this class,” the teacher replied.

[…]“You can have whatever opinions you want but I will tell you right now – in this class homophobic comments, racist comments, sexist comments will not be tolerated,” she said. ‘If you don’t like it, you are more than free to drop this class.”

So the student dropped the class.

That was reported in November, here’s the latest from the Washington Times about a professor who blogged about the incident.

Excerpt:

Marquette University professor John McAdams has been suspended from teaching and banned from campus after blogging about another professor who supposedly shut down opposing views to gay marriage in her ethics class.

In November, Mr. McAdams, who runs the Marquette Warrior blog, wrote a post critical of a philosophy instructor, Cheryl Abbate. Ms. Abbate reportedly told a student in her class that his views against pro-gay policies weren’t welcome in the classroom setting because he could offend students who are gay.

Mr. McAdams accused Ms. Abbate of stifling the student’s free speech rights that professors have a duty to protect.

On Tuesday he received a letter from Dean Richard Holz saying the Marquette Warrior is under investigation and he is suspended from all faculty activities indefinitely.

You can read the professor’s response on his blog.

And let this be a reminder to you not to study anything where these leftist ideology-only professors are teaching. The woman who told the student to agree with her or drop the class was speaking in a mandatory philosophy class. That’s why I keep cautioning people against non-STEM fields. This is where the leftists congregate because non-STEM fields like English are insulated from reality. STEM areas are too difficult for people like Cheryl Abatte to infiltrate, because STEM fields require work and the work is bounded by reality. If you choose a STEM program, you can keep your own worldview, learn practical real-world skills, and get a real job doing real work afterwards. Computer science, petroleum engineering, nursing – or go to a vocational school.