At Butler University, junior Jess Zimmerman is learning first-hand what it’s like to face coercion and castigation at the hands of the school administration to a degree that would make Joe McCarthy proud.
And it all started with a blog.
In 2008, Jess Zimmerman started an anonymous blog titled “The True BU” under the name “Soodo Nym.” The blog was a place for readers to talk about Butler University and, most importantly, share concerns and raise critical questions about the administration. In the blog, Zimmerman targeted the actions of Peter Alexander, the dean of the Jordan College of Fine Arts, and Jamie Comstock, the provost, calling their decisions on campus issues “inexcusable” and “not consistent with the Butler way.” Zimmerman’s comments led the school to threaten him with legal action. Of course, they had to figure out who he was first.
After receiving notice in January that “Soodo Nym” was being sued (under the name “John Doe”), Zimmerman shut down the blog, hearing little about the case until June when he was shocked to discover he was still being sued. The university had searched through his university e-mail account to find “proof” that he was the blogger.
The school had no case to fall back on, no proof of libel or damage that Zimmerman’s comments may have caused. Instead, officials resorted to a questionable standard.
According to an e-mail from Zimmerman, “Amazingly (and sickeningly) they justified their actions by referencing the massacre at Virginia Tech, claiming that unless they acted they might be held responsible for a similar situation.” At that point, national attention was focused on the University, and the school dropped the suit out of fear of a negative backlash. It was the one logical decision they made.
Despite a win on the legal side, Zimmerman now has to face a much more questionable and judicially suspect form of trial — campus disciplinary proceedings. According to Zimmerman, the president of the school has already sent out three memos to faculty alleging that he acted in a way that endangered students and attempted to blemish the school’s image.
The procedure will involve a trial in front of a board of either a faculty members or students. Zimmerman must speak on his own behalf and will only be allowed one person to act as legal counsel. In effect, now that the case is out of the state legal system and into the university’s hands, Zimmerman is guilty until proven innocent.
Unfortunately for Zimmerman, Butler is a private university, and his tuition is in essence a contract with a private company that obviously doesn’t grant him the rights we as UT students enjoy. Instead, he has to rely on the mature and sensible members of the university — clearly not the administration — to secure his rights and vindicate him of any wrongdoing.
While free speech and press are not guaranteed on private campuses, we applaud Zimmerman’s use of off-campus press to spread news of the administration’s tyrannical response to critical speech — likely curbing similar oppression of speech at other private institutions.
Officials at Butler are bullying students, which makes the school look terrible, but the truly frightening aspect of their actions is the message they are sending and the precedent they are setting for other private institutions around the country. If they punish Zimmerman, it will be out of childish anger and folly, not out of respect for the institution.
Butler University’s administration has already managed to embarrass the university and taint its professional image on a national level far beyond anything a mere blog could do.
We hope that Butler, and universities around the country, learn that in a nation of free thinkers and speakers, sometimes the best way to ensure a message is spread is to try to oppress it.
