Mount St. Mary’s University

Location: Emmitsburg, Maryland
Website: http://msmary.edu/
Type: Private
Federal Circuit: 4th Circuit

Speech Code Rating

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  • For the Mount, Time to Move on After Turmoil

    March 3, 2016

    By Staff at The Frederick News-Post It was a worthwhile experiment, a bold one, and we’re sure Simon Newman was reluctant to step away from it. Read more here.

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  • Ten Schools that Hate Free Speech the Most

    March 2, 2016

    By Bob Kellogg at One News Now The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education has once again put together its Top 10 list of America’s institutions of learning that support unconstitutional speech codes. Read more here.

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  • Catholic College President Resigns After Freshman Retention Controversy

    March 2, 2016

    By Melinda Taylor at WorldMag The president of the nation’s second-largest Catholic university resigned this week after ensnaring the school in controversy over his strategy to weed out struggling freshmen to improve the school’s retention rate and attempts to punish faculty who disagreed with him. His use of an unfortunate metaphor, describing those struggling students as bunnies needing to be drowned, didn’t help.   Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s President Simon Newman Resigns

    February 29, 2016

    By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf at The Frederick News-Post Mount St. Mary’s University President Simon Newman has resigned, effective immediately, the school announced Monday evening. Read more here.

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  • Raising Hares at Mount St. Mary’s University

    February 25, 2016

    By John Singleton at The American Spectator When Simon Newman fired the faculty advisor to the student newspaper and a tenured philosophy professor for “disloyalty,” what had been a PR nightmare about a plan to game national student retention numbers became a national scandal. Along the way the freshly minted president of Mount St. Mary’s University called the students entrusted to him “struggling bunnies” that should be “drowned” or “shot.” Read more here.

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  • St. Mary’s Named One of the Worst Colleges for Free Speech

    February 25, 2016

    By Taylor Nachtigal at Post-Bulletin St. Mary’s University of Minnesota was named one of the top ten worst universities in the U.S. for free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. Read more here.

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  • Should Professors Be Fired for Damaging a College’s Reputation?

    February 25, 2016

    By Laura Mckenna at The Atlantic This January, two students at Mount St. Mary’s University reported in the campus newspaper, The Mountain Echo, that their college president planned to dismiss about two dozen students in September in an effort to improve the school’s retention rate. In a now-infamous conversation with a small group of faculty and administrators, the president, Simon Newman, explained that professors shouldn’t feel so sentimental about holding on to students who are unlikely to succeed. “This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t,” The Mountain Echo quoted Newman […]

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  • Foundation for Individual Rights in Education Releases List of Top 10 Worst Schools for Free Speech

    February 23, 2016

    By Kathryn Blackhurst at The Blaze The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released its list of the top 10 worst schools for free speech in 2016 in a blog post last week. Read more here.

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  • Georgetown Faculty Joins Mount St. Mary’s in Calling for Academic Freedom

    February 18, 2016

    By Susan Svrluga at The Washington Post The Georgetown University Faculty Senate has joined the criticism of Mount St. Mary’s College, as the controversy over an incendiary remark by the president and the college’s subsequent dismissal of two professors continued to percolate on the Maryland campus and beyond. Read more here.

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  • FIRE Ranks the 10 Worst Schools for Free Speech

    February 18, 2016

    By Chris Nuelle at Campus Reform The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), recently released its annual list of universities that are notoriously bad for freedom of speech for 2016. Read more here.

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  • Two Oklahoma Universities Make List of 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech

    February 18, 2016

    By Dallas Franklin at KFor.com OKLAHOMA – Two universities in Oklahoma recently made the list for the 10 worst colleges for free speech. Read more here.

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  • University of Tulsa, OU Make List of Worst Colleges for Free Speech

    February 17, 2016

    By Staff at News On 6 The University of Tulsa and the University of Oklahoma have made a list of the ten worst colleges for free speech. Read more here.

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  • FIRE Unveils This Year’s List of Worst Colleges for Free Speech

    February 17, 2016

    By Leah Barkoukis at TownHall.com As high school juniors across the country begin the college search process, there’s no doubt school ranking, academic programs, and cost are all important factors in the decision-making process. But students (and their parents who likely foot most of the bill) ought to be mindful of one other aspect when considering which college or university is the best fit for them: free speech on campus. Read more here.

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  • LSU on List of 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech

    February 17, 2016

    By  The Daily Advertiser at Shreveport Times PHILADELPHIA — Nearly half of America’s top colleges maintain speech codes that blatantly violate First Amendment standards, and this year Louisiana State University is one of them, according to a report from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s President Says ‘I’m Not Going to Stop’

    February 16, 2016

    By Pablo Novarro at Equilibrio Infomativo There are new developments surrounding the firings of multiple professors at Mt. St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, while some are calling for President Simon Newman to resign in the face of controversy that has gotten national attention. Read more here.

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  • Turmoil at the Mount

    February 15, 2016

    By Simon Newman at Inside Higher Ed Mount St. Mary’s University ended last week with faculty members united that they want the president out and the liberal arts traditions of the institutions upheld. President Simon Newman appears unwilling to budge. And though he said he reinstated two professors he fired without any faculty input, that move has not calmed the controversy. Read more here.

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  • St. Mary’s Reinstates 2 Fired Profs. After Pres. Calls for Cutting Low-Scoring Students: Drown Them Like Bunnies

    February 15, 2016

    By Michael Gryboski at The Christian Post A 208-year-old Roman Catholic academic institution in Maryland reinstated two professors fired for criticizing the school president’s controversial plan to weed out lower-performing students. Read more here.

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  • Faculty Asks Catholic College’s President to Resign

    February 13, 2016

    By David Dishneau at NBC Washington Faculty members of Mount St. Mary’s University voted overwhelmingly Friday to ask the embattled president of the rural Maryland school to resign by Monday morning. Read more here.

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  • Academic Groups Criticize Univeristy Over Firings

    February 12, 2016

    By Ernie Smith at Associations Now It started with a survey—and ended with a huge spate of firings. The situation is still causing some lasting backlash for Maryland’s tiny Mount St. Mary’s University, especially from the world of associations. Read more here.

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  • Fired, then Suspended? Professor Receives Conciliatory Letter from Mount St. Mary’s.

    February 12, 2016

    By Susan Svrluga at The Washington Post The tenured professor at Mount St. Mary’s University who was abruptly fired Monday got a letter from the university this week offering a meeting with administrators to “explore the possibility of conciliation.” Read more here.

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  • The Freshman Survey that Rang Alarm Bells for Some at Mount St. Mary’s

    February 12, 2016

    By Susan Svrluga at The Washington Post “Welcome to The Mount St. Mary’s University Class of 2019 Survey!”   Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s University Offers to Take Back Two Fired Faculty Members; One Declines

    February 12, 2016

    By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf at The Frederick News-Post Two Mount St. Mary’s University faculty members whose firings prompted national ire were offered their jobs back on Friday. One says he will not accept; the other is not sure what he will do. Read more here.

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  • Two Professors Fired For Criticizing College President

    February 11, 2016

    By Janine Eduljee at Her Campus In this day and age it’s often easy to take the right of free speech for granted, especially in the press. But it’s clear that freedom of speech is not guaranteed at a small Catholic college in Maryland, where the school’s president has turned back the clock of progress by firing two professors after a student newspaper article reported on offensive remarks he made. Read more here.

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  • Months Before National Controversy, Seven Mount St. Mary’s Administrators were Fired

    February 11, 2016

    By Jeremy Bauer-Wolf at The Frederick News-Post At least seven high-ranking Mount St. Mary’s University administrators were fired roughly four months ago, a precursor to two other controversial firings of professors this week that garnered national media attention. Read more here.

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  • Tenure Protects Nothing

    February 11, 2016

    By Rebecca Shuman at Slate.com Recently, Mount St. Mary’s University president Simon Newman, a former Bain executive and private equity CEO, was caught encouraging his faculty to identify struggling freshmen and coerce them to drop out before they harmed the institution’s bottom line. Newman likened it to drowning and shooting “cuddly bunnies.” Unsurprisingly, there was fallout. Just not the kind you might expect. Read more here.

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  • ‘We Are All Bunnies’

    February 10, 2016

    By Scott Jaschik at Inside HigherED Cases involving the alleged violations of the rights of faculty members don’t always attract much attention, especially if they are at colleges that don’t usually attract much attention. Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s Student Newspaper Adviser Fired After Paper’s Investigation into President’s Emails

    February 10, 2016

    By Kaitlin DeWulf at SPLC MARYLAND — A private Catholic university has found itself in a swarm of controversy after its campus newspaper reported that the president referred to incoming freshmen as bunnies that need to be “drowned,” which has since led to the firings of the newspaper’s adviser and a tenured professor. Read more here.

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  • Firing of Two Mount St. Mary’s Teachers — One with Tenure — Attracting National Backlash

    February 10, 2016

    By Jeremy Bauer-wolf at The Frederick News-Post Mount St. Mary’s University faculty and alumni, as well as academics countrywide, are signing online petitions protesting the school’s decision to fire two teachers this week. One, who had tenure, was told in a termination letter that he violated “a duty of loyalty” to the Mount. … Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s University (Maryland) Professors Fired, Apparently for Opposing University President

    February 10, 2016

    By Eugene Volokh at The Washington Post Susan Svrluga (Grade Point, here at The Post) has the story; Chronicle of Higher Education has more; so does the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which adds: … Read more here.

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  • College President Fires Professors Who Criticized His ‘Drown The Bunnies’ Comment

    February 9, 2016

    By Ryan Grenoble at The Huffington Post The president of Mount St. Mary’s University, who last month was quoted in the school newspaper comparing struggling students to rabbits who should be killed, has fired two professors who criticized his policies. Read more here.

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  • Controversy Deepens After Professors Who Opposed University President Get Fired

    February 8, 2016

    By Susan Svrluga at The Washington Post Last month, a student newspaper published a shocking story: Reporters at the Mountain Echo wrote that the new president of Mount St. Mary’s University planned to cull 20 to 25 students from the freshman class deemed unlikely to succeed in the first weeks of school in order to improve the college’s retention numbers and thus its rankings. … Read more here.

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  • Mount St. Mary’s University President Simon Newman Resigns After Accreditor Questions Commitment to Freedom of Expression

    March 1, 2016

    Embattled Mount St. Mary’s University (MSMU) President Simon Newman has resigned, the school’s Board of Trustees announced late last night. In a statement, MSMU said Newman tendered his resignation late Monday, effective immediately. The statement quoted Newman, who said, “[T]he recent publicity relating to my leadership has become too great of a distraction to our mission of educating students.” that has roiled the small Maryland liberal arts school in Emmitsburg. It started with controversy over Newman’s freshman-retention program, escalated when he fired two professors (one had tenure) over their criticisms of that program, and resurfaced again amid concerns the school […]

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  • FIRE Announces 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2016

    February 17, 2016

    PHILADELPHIA, February 17, 2016—Nearly half of America’s top colleges maintain speech codes that blatantly violate First Amendment standards. But every year the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) takes a closer look at the past year’s incidents of college censorship to determine the nation’s 10 worst abusers of student and faculty free speech rights. This year’s list of the 10 worst colleges for free speech—published with detailed descriptions at The Huffington Post—includes many public colleges or universities bound by the First Amendment. Some of them, on the other hand, are private colleges that, though not required by the Constitution […]

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  • BREAKING: Fired Mount St. Mary’s University Professors Reinstated

    February 12, 2016

    Mount St. Mary’s University (MSMU) President Simon Newman announced at a faculty meeting this afternoon that professors Ed Egan and Thane Naberhaus have been reinstated, FIRE has independently confirmed. FIRE sent a letter demanding the professors’ reinstatement to President Newman yesterday. On Monday, Newman took the extraordinary step of firing Naberhaus, a tenured professor, and Egan, the faculty advisor to the student newspaper, following their criticism of Newman’s plan to oust low-performing freshmen. The plan became national news last month after the student newspaper reported that Newman told a concerned faculty member, “This is hard for you because you think […]

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  • FIRE Asks Mount St. Mary’s To Reinstate Fired Professors, Uphold Academic Freedom and Due Process

    February 12, 2016

    FIRE has written to Mount St. Mary’s University (MSMU), asking the school to reinstate two professors amid a public scandal over an administrative plan to weed out low-performing students. MSMU had been under scrutiny for weeks over President Simon Newman’s plan to use student survey responses in an effort to weed out low-performing students and improve rankings. That criticism escalated after the student newspaper, The Mountain Echo, reported that Newman called those students “bunnies” to be drowned or shot. On Monday, Newman sparked a national firestorm when he summarily fired faculty who may have had some connection to the Echo […]

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  • Opposition to Mount St. Mary’s President Results in Faculty Firings, Dire Threats to Free Student Press

    February 9, 2016

    BALTIMORE, February 9, 2016—Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland has gone “nuclear.” Yesterday, the liberal arts university took the extraordinary step of firing a tenured faculty member and the faculty advisor to the student newspaper following their criticism of first-year university president Simon P. Newman’s plan to oust low-performing freshmen. The plan became national news last month after the student newspaper reported that Newman told a critical faculty member, “This is hard for you because you think of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock to their heads.” […]

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  • President of Mount St. Mary’s U. Goes Nuclear, Fires Professors Who Questioned Plan to Expel Students (UPDATED)

    February 9, 2016

    Reports out of Maryland’s Mount St. Mary’s University (MSMU) allege administrators have fired two professors—one of whom had tenure—and demoted a third as retribution for criticizing MSMU President Simon Newman’s controversial plan to oust low-performing freshmen in an effort to improve rankings. Last month, MSMU’s student newspaper, The Mountain Echo, reported that Newman planned to “cull the class” of the worst 20–25 students to improve the school’s standing. Emails leaked to The Echo quoted Newman as admonishing faculty for “think[ing] of the students as cuddly bunnies, but you can’t. You just have to drown the bunnies … put a Glock […]

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