And BTW, isn’t college where young people should get through their “no blood for oil” naivity before they grow up and figure out the world is far more complex than black/white/and a few shades of gray?

Happy Nomad on February 2, 2013 at 4:30 PM

Fifty is definitely more than a few, HN. Just sayin’.

This really was a win for VSU not the plaintiff.

- Jazz I expect better

Green_Bay_Packers on February 3, 2013 at 10:16 AM

Since VSU doesn’t have to pull out the check-book, you are correct. This does not detract from the fact that a University President is going to go broke because of his ego.

#2 the plaintiff attys were originally looking for millions, not 50K – a first amendment suit against the state would likely have gotten them this if they prevailed.

#3 allegedly, there were anonymous threats against the university president and destruction of property at his residence – these were NEVER linked to anyone — i’ll give you one guess who the president suspects did it.

#4 these threats and property destruction occurred the same approximate time of the V.Tech shooting

#5 This really was a win for VSU not the plaintiff.

- Jazz I expect better

A $50K smackdown will probably send a significant message here.

Maybe some of the parents of those kids expelled from school for bringing in “guns” will take note and start filing some claims against INDIVIDUAL school authorities.

Nothing changes behavior faster that grabbing someone’s wallet and extracting cash.

As to those complaining he wuldn’t ahve done it for you, again, WHO CARES? The Nazi’s wouldn’t let the Jews march if they ran Chicago, but that’s not the point….the Nazi’s had the right to march in Skokie. A violation of this tree-hugger’s or the Nazi’s rights just make it easier to violate YOUR rights.

Happy Nomad on February 2, 2013 at 4:58 PM

I agree, I think this is an obvious abuse of power and Pres. Zaccari is lucky I didn’t have any say in the matter.

Mr. Curly on February 2, 2013 at 4:51 PM

Including another libtard.

Does anyone think if the tables were turned that Mr. Barnes would defend our free speech rights if he disagreed (and he would on almost everything)with us on an issue?

Cindy Munford on February 2, 2013 at 4:44 PM

He’s hard left wing. Of course he wouldn’t agree with our rights. But that does not make it right in the way he was punished for dissent.

You pointed out the really stupid thing about this. Barnes opposition was utterly meaningless. By the time one of these projects go through the whole process, there is ample room for expressing dissent. For a university president to go out after an individual student is what lost the case.

Such a stupid mindset. It actually helps the human race and these tree huggers are whining about it.

LevinFan on February 2, 2013 at 4:11 PM

It’s precisely because it helps the human race that the tree huggers whine about it.

You mean brainwashing students with progressive nonsense might interfere with construction on campus?

forest on February 2, 2013 at 4:30 PM

Heh! Standing up clapping!

Let a school preach the benefits of the collective good in the classrooms but that doesn’t mean they want the ideology to leak over into their facilities planning.

Agree or disagree with the posting, though, the actions of the college president clearly seemed heavy handed. A $50K smackdown will probably send a significant message here.

I think an important aspect here is that this is a STATE university. I suspect the right to dissent is different when attending a private institution. Though heavy-handed presidents (or boards of regents) can clearly muck up the administration as UVA recently found out.

I went to a school with a strongly conservative student body and a decidedly liberal faculty. Yet we managed to survive. For a university president to become vindictive over one student proves more than anything an unfitness for the office he held. So long as the project was legal and justifiable, dissent should have played out in the process without students getting kicked out of school for exercising their First Amendment rights.

And BTW, isn’t college where young people should get through their “no blood for oil” naivity before they grow up and figure out the world is far more complex than black/white/and a few shades of gray?