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I guess some Liberals can't tolerate the concept of Freedom of Speech in the U.S.
Destruction of anti-abortion display under investigation
Associated Press
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - A Northern Kentucky University professor is under investigation after admitting she told students to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus.
About 400 crosses were pulled up from the ground near the University Center and dumped in trash cans. The crosses, temporarily erected last week by a student group called Northern Right to Life, were meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses.
Northern Kentucky University police are investigating the vandalism report.
Sally Jacobsen, a professor of literature and language, said nine students in one of her graduate-level classes dismantled the display Wednesday.
"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom of speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said, declining to say if she took part.
Northern Kentucky University president James Votruba said any evidence of criminal activity would be turned over to prosecutors. Votruba said he also was investigating Jacobsen's alleged involvement in the destruction of the crosses.
"I don't know if she was pulling up the crosses, but I think she was out there with the students. If so, as far as I'm concerned, she went outside the conditions of her employment," Votruba said.
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Crosses removed at NKU
By Stephenie Steitzer
Post staff reporter
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A Northern Kentucky University literature professor could be disciplined for her role in the removal of nearly 400 crosses that were erected on campus as part of a school-sanctioned display by a right to life group.
Tenured professor Sally Jacobsen, who has been teaching at NKU since 1980, said she found the display offensive and asked students in her British literature class Wednesday night if they wanted to take down the crosses.
During a break in class, Jacobsen said she asked "if any students wanted to participate in practicing their freedom of speech in destroying the very offensive right to life, anti-abortion display in the central plaza."
"Some did," she said.
Jacobsen wouldn't say if she participated in taking down the crosses, which campus police later recovered in campus trash cans.
NKU President Jim Votruba said police are continuing to investigate and would turn the matter over to Campbell County, Ky., prosecutors and the university administration for review.
He said Jacobsen and the 10 to 12 students involved, whom police have not yet identified, could face disciplinary action.
"In my mind, this is a serious violation of a faculty member's responsibilities and undermines what a university is established to do," Votruba said.
He dismissed as "a ludicrous comment" Jacobsen's assertion that students were expressing freedom of speech, saying it doesn't apply to vandalizing or stealing property.
NKU Police Sgt. Dave Tobergte said police received a call about the theft at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Police recovered most of the crosses and returned them to the NKU Right to Life group.
A police report valued the crosses at $600.
A sign identifying the display as the "Cemetery of the innocents" has not been found, said Dean of Students Kent Kelso.
He said students involved in the incident could face punishment ranging from a warning to expulsion.
The newly formed NKU right-to-life group put the crosses back up shortly after they were recovered, said sophomore Lauren Macke, one of 15 members of the organization.
University officials said Northern Right to Life obtained permission to erect the display Sunday. The group plans to take it down Saturday.
Macke said each cross represents 10 abortions that occur every day. She said members would continue putting the crosses back up no matter how many times they are taken down.
"It really shocked me because of course we're pro-life, but we try to respect other people's opinions, and people who are pro-choice," she said. "If anything, it will just increase our resolve and help us keep going with our mission."
Jacobsen said she felt "horribly violated" by the display, saying any woman going through the process of abortion "should not be slapped in the face by her university by calling her a scarlet woman."
Votruba said he would prefer Jacobsen and others who found the display offensive erect their own display.
"That's a civilized way to let ideas play off each other," he said.
In an e-mail sent to campus officials earlier this week and obtained by The Kentucky Post, Jacobsen demanded the display be removed immediately. She wrote that the crosses violated the separation of church and state because NKU is a state institution.
Votruba disagreed.
"If people are occasionally offended by points of view on a campus, that's what a university is all about," he said.
Votruba said he welcomes lively debate on such a hot-button issue on campus.
"We're a place where ideas get vetted," he said.
Link
Associated Press
HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - A Northern Kentucky University professor is under investigation after admitting she told students to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus.
About 400 crosses were pulled up from the ground near the University Center and dumped in trash cans. The crosses, temporarily erected last week by a student group called Northern Right to Life, were meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses.
Northern Kentucky University police are investigating the vandalism report.
Sally Jacobsen, a professor of literature and language, said nine students in one of her graduate-level classes dismantled the display Wednesday.
"I did, outside of class during the break, invite students to express their freedom of speech rights to destroy the display if they wished to," Jacobsen said, declining to say if she took part.
Northern Kentucky University president James Votruba said any evidence of criminal activity would be turned over to prosecutors. Votruba said he also was investigating Jacobsen's alleged involvement in the destruction of the crosses.
"I don't know if she was pulling up the crosses, but I think she was out there with the students. If so, as far as I'm concerned, she went outside the conditions of her employment," Votruba said.
Link
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Crosses removed at NKU
By Stephenie Steitzer
Post staff reporter
ADVERTISEMENT
A Northern Kentucky University literature professor could be disciplined for her role in the removal of nearly 400 crosses that were erected on campus as part of a school-sanctioned display by a right to life group.
Tenured professor Sally Jacobsen, who has been teaching at NKU since 1980, said she found the display offensive and asked students in her British literature class Wednesday night if they wanted to take down the crosses.
During a break in class, Jacobsen said she asked "if any students wanted to participate in practicing their freedom of speech in destroying the very offensive right to life, anti-abortion display in the central plaza."
"Some did," she said.
Jacobsen wouldn't say if she participated in taking down the crosses, which campus police later recovered in campus trash cans.
NKU President Jim Votruba said police are continuing to investigate and would turn the matter over to Campbell County, Ky., prosecutors and the university administration for review.
He said Jacobsen and the 10 to 12 students involved, whom police have not yet identified, could face disciplinary action.
"In my mind, this is a serious violation of a faculty member's responsibilities and undermines what a university is established to do," Votruba said.
He dismissed as "a ludicrous comment" Jacobsen's assertion that students were expressing freedom of speech, saying it doesn't apply to vandalizing or stealing property.
NKU Police Sgt. Dave Tobergte said police received a call about the theft at about 7 p.m. Wednesday. Police recovered most of the crosses and returned them to the NKU Right to Life group.
A police report valued the crosses at $600.
A sign identifying the display as the "Cemetery of the innocents" has not been found, said Dean of Students Kent Kelso.
He said students involved in the incident could face punishment ranging from a warning to expulsion.
The newly formed NKU right-to-life group put the crosses back up shortly after they were recovered, said sophomore Lauren Macke, one of 15 members of the organization.
University officials said Northern Right to Life obtained permission to erect the display Sunday. The group plans to take it down Saturday.
Macke said each cross represents 10 abortions that occur every day. She said members would continue putting the crosses back up no matter how many times they are taken down.
"It really shocked me because of course we're pro-life, but we try to respect other people's opinions, and people who are pro-choice," she said. "If anything, it will just increase our resolve and help us keep going with our mission."
Jacobsen said she felt "horribly violated" by the display, saying any woman going through the process of abortion "should not be slapped in the face by her university by calling her a scarlet woman."
Votruba said he would prefer Jacobsen and others who found the display offensive erect their own display.
"That's a civilized way to let ideas play off each other," he said.
In an e-mail sent to campus officials earlier this week and obtained by The Kentucky Post, Jacobsen demanded the display be removed immediately. She wrote that the crosses violated the separation of church and state because NKU is a state institution.
Votruba disagreed.
"If people are occasionally offended by points of view on a campus, that's what a university is all about," he said.
Votruba said he welcomes lively debate on such a hot-button issue on campus.
"We're a place where ideas get vetted," he said.
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