William Paterson University: Punishment on Harassment Charges for Response to Mass E-Mail

Case Materials

• "Victory for Free Speech and Religious Liberty at William Paterson University," FIRE Press Release, December 7, 2005: A Muslim student employee at William Paterson University in New Jersey has finally been cleared of baseless sexual harassment charges. With FIRE's help, Jihad Daniel forced the public university to officially revoke the punishment it inflicted on him after he expressed his religious opinion of homosexuality in a private e-mail to a professor.
• "William Paterson University Disciplinary Hearing Report for Jihad Daniel, December 5, 2005," December 7, 2005
• "The Media Discover William Paterson University Student's Plight," August 3, 2005: FIRE’s efforts to defend William Paterson University master’s student Jihad Daniel, who has been unjustly punished for “harassment” and “discrimination” for privately replying to a professor’s mass e-mail stating his religious objections to its content, have drawn well-deserved public attention. Wendy McElroy of Fox News commented on the case in “On Campus, Only Some Speech Protected,” while Joyce Howard Price reported on the case for the Washington Times.  New York’s Newsday ran the Associated Press story on the controversy, while William Paterson’s home state of New Jersey featured news articles in the Star-Ledger (Newark) and the North Jersey Herald News as well as an opinion column criticizing WPU’s actions in the Bergen Record. Stay tuned for further developments in this case.
• "William Paterson University Tramples Student's Constitutional Rights," FIRE Press Release, July 20, 2005: William Paterson University in New Jersey has convicted a student employee of “discrimination” and “harassment”—without due process—for describing homosexuality as a “perversion” in a private response to a professor’s unsolicited announcement of a university event that promoted a positive view of lesbian relationships.
• "Letter from New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey to FIRE Regarding Jihad Daniel, July 15, 2005," July 15, 2005
• "FIRE Letter to William Paterson University President Arnold Speert, July 5, 2005," July 5, 2005
• "Response from William Paterson University President Arnold Speert to Jihad Daniel’s Appeal, June 24, 2005," June 24, 2005
• "E-mail Appeal from Jihad Daniel to William Paterson University President Arnold Speert, June 23, 2005," June 23, 2005
• "Letter of Reprimand from William Paterson University President Arnold Speert to Jihad Daniel, June 15, 2005," June 15, 2005
• "E-mail Complaint from Professor Arlene Scala Against Jihad Daniel, March 8, 2005," March 8, 2005
• "E-mail from Jihad Daniel to Professor Arlene Scala, March 8, 2005," March 8, 2005
• "E-mail Announcement from Professor Arlene Scala, March 7, 2005," March 7, 2005

Media Coverage

• "Fighting Against Political Correctness on Campus," Dave Eberhart, NewsMax, March 1, 2006
• "University Clears Worker Punished for Stating Objections to Homosexuality," Jim Brown, Agape Press, December 13, 2005: After facing public criticism for its actions, WPU rescinded Daniel's punishment, officially revoking the reprimand against him. Greg Lukianoff, FIRE's Director of Legal and Public Policy, calls the university's reversal "a long overdue victory" for the student-worker and also "a vindication of basic First Amendment rights."
• "University Drops Charges Against Student for Opposition to Homosexuality," Nathan Burchfiel, Cybercast News Service, December 12, 2005: FIRE President David French praised DeYoung's decision, calling it "far more reminiscent of the points that we've been making than it is of the attorney general's opinion." He added that DeYoung's decision "was influenced by constitutional principles, whereas the attorney general's opinion letter...was completely off base."
• "Keep 'Adam and Steve' Out of His In-Box. Is That So Hateful?," Peter Applebome, The New York Times, December 11, 2005: At that point Mr. Daniel might have packed it in, but he figured a letter in his file saying he was guilty of harassing behavior was no small price to pay. And he had been taking courses in media communications and decided that what he had learned about the First Amendment applied to him as much as it did to the founding fathers. Yes, he was just the guy who fixed the printers, but he didn’t see how he had done anything wrong. He decided to appeal and found an ally in the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has found no shortage of free-speech cases on college campuses.
• " Let's score another one for the First Amendment," Jeffrey Page, The Record (Bergen, N.J.), December 8, 2005: And this week he found that the craggy old First Amendment was still intact when the hearing officer cleared him of charges that he harassed the professor because he had the temerity to state his views in a response to an unrequested e-mail.
• "Muslim college worker wins appeal to have personnel reprimand erased," Kelly Heyboer, The Star-Ledger (Newark, N.J.), December 8, 2005: The case gained national attention when the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a Philadelphia-based civil rights group, stepped in to help Daniel appeal the reprimand.
• "'Harassment' reprimand dropped against college worker," Wayne Parry, Associated Press, December 7, 2005: Ruling on a grievance brought by his union, a university hearing officer found no evidence to support the charge that Roy "Jihad" Daniel had violated New Jersey's regulations governing harassment when he replied to a professor who had sent out an e-mail inviting people to watch a film about a lesbian relationship.
• "Media Cover E-mail Issue," Tara Septynski, Pioneer Times (William Paterson Univ.), September 14, 2005
• "Playing a Dangerous Game," Greg Lukianoff and Azhar Majeed, Inside Higher Ed, September 2, 2005: Unfortunately, many colleges — eager to ban speech that administrators or students do not like — have latched onto the “threat” exception of the First Amendment to justify banning speech that is not actually threatening (as the term has been defined by the law) but instead is merely offensive to the listener. Redefining a “threat” as anything that offends is a dangerous game that discredits accusers, underestimates students’ ability to cope with ideas they dislike, and trivializes the seriousness of actual threats of violence.
• "Group Defends Campus Free-Speech Rights," JoAnn Loviglio, Associated Press, August 27, 2005: Since 1999, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has battled pro bono for evangelicals and atheists, animal rights activists and campus conservatives, and others who say they have been silenced by school administrations because of their points of view.
• "Will Colleges Respect Your Child's Rights?," Wendy McElroy, Fox News, August 24, 2005: The current campus definition of tolerance inverts the more traditional meaning and demands personal acceptance. Tolerance becomes the active celebration of "diversity" and toleration requires the suppression of the speech, views or peaceful behavior that supposedly hinder diversity by making "diverse others" uncomfortable.
• "New Jersey University Student Punished for Voicing Opposition to Homosexuality in Email," LifeSite, August 12, 2005: In a recent salvo, the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, (FIRE) has come to the defence of graduate student, Jihad Daniel, at William Paterson University. 63-year-old Daniel, who is both a student and employee of the university, is being punished for "discrimination" and "harassment" for a private email he sent objecting to the normalization of homosexuality.
• "Cyber Complaint," Chicago Free Press, August 5, 2005: Scala sent the email to a university office responsible for handling discrimination complaints, saying she thought it was threatening and also went against the school's anti-discrimination policy. Then the university reprimanded Daniel, saying his comments were derogatory and demeaning. And Daniel, backed by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, challenged the criticism.
• "University rebukes employee for e-mail decrying lesbianism," Joyce Howard Price, The Washington Times, July 31, 2005: FIRE also is outraged by a letter that it received this month from the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, which upheld Mr. Daniel's reprimand, saying that "speech which violates a non-discrimination policy is not protected by the First Amendment."
• "University Student Disciplined For Objecting to Lesbianism," Josh Montez, Family.org, July 29, 2005: “In their pursuit of tolerance they are completely intolerant of anybody who doesn’t accept their viewpoint. Simply expressing a negative viewpoint about a lifestyle choice does not come to the level of harassment that you can be punished for. That’s simply unconstitutional. The schools are not permitted to do that. The first amendment trumps their interest in non-discrimination—and it also points up the question of what is discrimination-what is harassment.”
• "WPU Censures Student-Employee for Expressing Biblical Beliefs Against Homosexuality," Jim Brown and Jenni Parker, Agape Press, July 29, 2005: A 63-year-old campus technician and student at a New Jersey university who sent a private e-mail describing lesbianism and homosexuality as "perversions" has been formally reprimanded by the school for violating its non-discrimination policy.
• "Free speech under fire at New Jersey university," The Daily Cougar (University of Houston), July 28, 2005: Free speech that's only free for those who share the views of those in power is in many ways more dangerous than outright persecution. Those at Paterson responsible for the decision are a disgrace to the ideals to which higher education should be loyal.
• "Insanity at WPU: Mr. Daniel's censure," Jeffrey Page, The Record (Bergen, N.J.), July 27, 2005: Here is the eloquent Mr. Jihad Daniel in his failed appeal to Speert: "People disagree with my ideas and I never, by any stretch of the imagination, said, 'Oh they don't agree with me so they must be a threat.' That is insanity."
• "On Campus, Only Some Free Speech Protected," Wendy McElroy, Fox News, July 26, 2005: The publicly funded William Paterson University in New Jersey reprimanded Jihad Daniel for discrimination and sexual harassment. The 63-year-old Daniel, who is both an employee and a student at the university, is now at the center of a free speech controversy.
• "Intolerance Police Strike in NJ," Joseph Farah, WorldNetDaily, July 25, 2005: Let me go on the record as saying I support not only Daniel's "right" to do what he did. I support the principle behind his action. I support the content of what he wrote. And if William Paterson University is going to penalize a student employee for his opinions, maybe it ought to revoke my Distinguished Alumni Award, too.
• "Letter to the Editor," Robert Shibley, The Record (Bergen, N.J.), July 25, 2005
• "School Worker Fights Lesbian Insult Reprimand," 1010 WINS, July 22, 2005: An employee at William Paterson University who was reprimanded for using a private e-mail to describe homosexuals as ``perversions'' says his rights were violated.
• "Taking a policy too far," The Record (Bergen, N.J.), July 22, 2005: WILLIAM Paterson University went too far when it formally reprimanded a Muslim employee for writing in an e-mail to a professor that homosexual relationships are "perversions."
• "Reprimanded college worker has an ally," Kelly Heyboer, The Star-Ledger (N.J.), July 21, 2005: A national civil rights group has taken up the case of a William Paterson University employee who was reprimanded for sending a professor an e-mail describing homosexuality as a "perversion."
• "Worker's censure ignites debate," Robert Ratish, NorthJersey.com, July 21, 2005:  A William Paterson University employee censured for calling a film on lesbian relationships a "perversion" has sparked a debate over where free speech ends and discrimination begins.
• "School employee fights reprimand after insulting lesbians," Associated Press, Newsday, July 21, 2005: An employee at William Paterson University who was reprimanded for using a private e-mail to describe homosexuals as "perversions" says his rights were violated.
• "Anti-gay message sparks WPU debate," Maya Kremen, Herald News, July 21, 2005: William Paterson University's reprimand of an employee over an anti-gay e-mail he sent to a professor has sparked a debate over free speech. 
• "Worker fights college over homesexual stand," Daily Record (Morristown, NJ), July 21, 2005