Dentistry Today: Marquette University School of Dentistry Suspends Dental Student for Blog Posts

The Marquette Tribune has Student suspended for blog posts

A School of Dentistry student who was suspended from the school Friday for comments he made on his personal Weblog about unnamed professors and students filed an appeal with the school Monday, according to the student’s lawyer.

Scott Taylor, the student’s lawyer, said the university has until Friday to consider his client’s appeal and submit a written response. Taylor would not confirm his client’s name.

The university was not releasing the student’s name as of Monday, but Kevin Siebenlist, an associate professor of biomedical sciences who testified Thursday at a Student-Faculty Review Committee hearing about the student’s conduct confirmed the student’s name is Theodore Schrubbe.

Marquette’s student directory on CheckMarq lists Schrubbe as a second-year dental student.

Taylor said his client was suspended but is still attending classes.

This reminds Flap of another university restriction of free speech case – Duquesne University Politically Correct FLAP: The Facebook Censorship

Flap recommends the Dean of the Marquette Dental School reverse the decision of the Student-Faculty Review Committee, reinstate the student or get out his checkbook for some expensive litigation and damage awards.

The Tribune obtained a packet of documents, including correspondence from the university to the student and 48 pages of postings from the student’s blog, which has been taken off the Internet, from associate professor of political science John McAdams. McAdams posted an entry on his blog, www.mu-warrior.blogspot.com, on Sunday about the student’s suspension.

McAdams gave copies of the documents, which contain the student’s name, to the Tribune under the condition the Tribune would not use the documents to confirm the student’s name.

McAdams said he was asked by the defense to testify at the hearing on the normal expectations for student blogs.

In a Dec. 2 letter to Schrubbe, Denis Lynch, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Dentistry, informed Schrubbe that the Student-Faculty Review Committee found him guilty of professional misconduct in violation of Section IV, Subsection E of the school’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the Marquette University Standards of Conduct.

Section IV, Subsection E of the school’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct states that actions “which in any way discriminate against or favor any group or are harassing in nature, are condemned.”

Lynch’s Dec. 2 letter stated that Schrubbe was suspended from the School of Dentistry until the 2006 fall semester, at which time he “will be allowed to resume your matriculation and will be required to repeat the second year of the predoctoral program in its entirety.”

The letter also said Schrubbe would be required to make a public apology to his class before the end of the current semester.

In addition, the letter said he was required to repay scholarship payments he had received while attending the School of Dentistry.

This committee is NUTSOID.

A reminder:

First Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

The ACLU has a good section on free speech and university codes of speech and conduct here.

Flap handicaps the Dean, William K. Lobb, D.D.S., M.S. will do the RIGHT thing and overrule the committee.

Lobb’s e-mail address is: william.lobb@marquette.edu

A Marquette Alumni Blogger weighs in here.

Stay Tuned……

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