Binghamton University: Student Suspended for Posters Criticizing Department of Social Work and Government Agency

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Binghamton University, State University of New York

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Case Overview

FIRE Victory closed

Under pressure from FIRE, Binghamton University (formerly SUNY-Binghamton) abandoned its attempt to suspend or expel a student who put up posters challenging the Department of Social Work. Social work master's student Andre Massena thought the Binghamton Housing Authority (BHA) was responsible for social injustice, so he put up pseudonymous posters challenging the department for having hired the BHA’s executive director as a faculty member. The department then ordered that Massena leave the program for one year with no guarantee of return, required him to apologize, and demanded that he publicly disavow his own views. When Massena appealed, the department's chair added entirely new allegations and recommended his expulsion. With FIRE's support, all of the charges were dropped and Massena graduated.

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