San Jose City College

California: Unconstitutional Discriminatory Harassment Policies

August 1, 2009

San José/Evergreen Community College District: Professor Fired for Protected Classroom Speech

February 6, 2008

Professor June Sheldon, an adjunct instructor at San José City College found herself without a job after a discussion on homosexuality in her Human Heredity course resulted in an anonymous complaint. Sheldon, who was accused of teaching “unscientific” points of view, responded to her letter of termination with a twenty page document asserting her innocence and declaring that her due process rights were guaranteed in her union’s collective bargaining agreement. FIRE intervened on Sheldon’s behalf, citing her academic freedom rights pursuant and demanded her reinstatement, but the SJCC Board of Trustees affirmed her dismissal. Sheldon’s lawsuit, which is assisted by […]

Weekly Media Round-up: FIRE’s Expertise Widely Cited, and Pressure Grows on Brandeis and Third Circuit Schools

October 3, 2008

Today’s Chicago Tribune featured an article examining the widening controversy over restrictions on political speech and activity at the University of Illinois, which go so far as to suggest that displaying a candidate’s bumper sticker on one’s car is out of bounds. FIRE is closely monitoring this case, as well as a similar situation at the University of Oklahoma, where all manner of political speech has been banned from the university network. FIRE has sent letters to both universities, asking for immediate clarification of the policies consistent with each school’s legal obligation to uphold the First Amendment on campus. Hopefully […]

Weekly Media Round-up: Student Journalists Take the Reins at IUPUI

July 25, 2008

Following last week’s Associated Press-driven spike in coverage of student employee Keith John Sampson’s struggles at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indiana University–South Bend student Chuck Norton has continued his thorough and illuminating coverage of the incident in his IUSB Vision Weblog. Updates to Norton’s blog this week include a hard-hitting investigation of recently appointed Director of Equal Opportunity Kim Kirkland, whose troubles following due process in a case at Bowling Green State University should make the IUPUI community suspicious of her ability to deliver necessary reform. In what should be a moment of tragicomic embarrassment for IUPUI, Norton has […]

Lawsuit Filed by Professor Fired by San José City College in Nature/Nurture Case

July 21, 2008

The Alliance Defense Fund and Pacific Justice Institute have filed a lawsuit on behalf of June Sheldon, a San José City College biologist who was fired after she briefly discussed aspects of the nature-versus-nurture debate regarding sexual orientation and a student complained. Although Sheldon denied having said the wild things the student had accused her of saying, a weak investigation by her dean (without a proper hearing) led the dean to declare that Sheldon had not been teaching “science,” which led to Sheldon being fired. The lawsuit cites FIRE’s February 8 letter to the San José/Evergreen Community College District and […]

Lawsuit Filed by Professor Fired by San José City College in Nature/Nurture Case

July 18, 2008

Torch readers might remember the case of June Sheldon, the San José City College biologist who was fired after she briefly discussed aspects of the nature-versus-nurture debate regarding sexual orientation and a student complained. Although Sheldon denied having said the wild things the student had accused her of saying, a weak investigation by her dean (without a proper hearing) led the dean to declare that Sheldon had not been teaching “science,” which led to Sheldon being fired. FIRE wrote to the San José/Evergreen Community College District on February 6, 2008, to encourage the Board of Trustees not to approve Sheldon’s […]

Professor fired over sexual orientation debate

February 27, 2008

An adjunct professor at a California community college was delivered a pink slip after holding a discussion on the “nature versus nurture” debate concerning the root causes of homosexuality. San Jose/Evergreen Community College (SJCC) officials terminated June Sheldon after a single student complained the discussion held in Ms. Sheldon’s Human Heredity class had been “offensive and unscientific.” “SJCC has violated its constitutional obligations and its own promises of academic freedom by summarily dismissing a professor for engaging in clearly protected classroom speech,” stated Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). FIRE is a civil rights […]

Adjunct dismissal questioned

February 25, 2008

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is taking up the case of June Sheldon, who lost her job teaching science courses at San Jose City College after a student complained about Sheldon’s discussion, in a class on heredity, of the causes of homosexuality. Sheldon was talking about the “nature vs. nurture” debate with regard to why some people are gay, and students complained that her comments suggested that she did not believe anyone could be born a lesbian, and that the way she endorsed the “nurture” side of the debate was offensive. FIRE’s Web site details the case, and […]

Community College Fires Professor for Discussing ‘Nature versus Nurture’ in Classroom

February 22, 2008

SAN JOSÉ, Calif., February 22, 2008—A community college in California has fired a professor for leading a brief discussion on the controversial “nature versus nurture” debate regarding sexual orientation during her Human Heredity course. After a student complained that the discussion had been “offensive,” the San José/Evergreen Community College District (SJCC) terminated Professor June Sheldon without a proper hearing. She contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. “SJCC has violated its constitutional obligations and its own promises of academic freedom by summarily dismissing a professor for engaging in clearly protected classroom speech,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff […]

Teacher fired over sexual orientation talk

February 22, 2008

San Jose Evergreen Community College is under fire tonight by a group that defends academic freedom—after the college fired a teacher because of a class discussion on sexual orientation. This was a summer class offered at San Jose City College. There was a debate about sexual orientation, and now apparently the teacher made some remarks that really offended a student. The fired teacher worked part-time at San Jose City College. Last summer, as part of a human heredity course, June Sheldon led a discussion on the controversial “nature versus nurture” debate. David Hacker is an attorney representing Sheldon. She did […]