Temple College: Censorship of Cartoon and Nietzsche Quotation on Professor's Office Door

Temple College, a junior college in Temple, Texas, found itself at the center of controversy when its administration censored one of its Professors, who had placed an image of a satirical cartoon on his office door. After he was asked to remove the cartoon image, the Professor, Kerry Laird, placed a sign on his office door that said, "Gott ist tot," which translates to the familiar Nietzsche quote, "God is dead." Interim Vice President of Educational Services and Chief Academic Officer Mark Smith demanded that Professor Laird remove this immediately, citing that his act of expression, "can be considered very controversial and offensive." Despite the intervention of another faculty member and a student pointing out to Smith that Christian literature appeared throughout campus and that he was applying a double standard, Smith refused to change course, and the FIRE intervened. Just one week later, Temple College President Glenda O. Barron reversed the censorship, in an action the FIRE's Vice President Robert L. Shibley stated, "is a classic example of a college reversing course once its censorship is exposed to public view."