DeVry University Professor Fired Over Blog
The Denver Post reports that Meg Spohn, a DeVry University professor, was fired for her blog which was critical of DeVry. The Post says that some academic bloggers don't think this would have happened to Spohn if she had been a professor at a public university.
Thousands of academics are bloggers, keeping online journals on everything from their strides in research to travel escapades and political rants. Many say what happened at DeVry, a private, for-profit university, wouldn't happen at traditional public universities that foster critical thinking and robust debate protected by the First Amendment.
Still, some professors have been asked to tone down their blogs and others - especially those without tenure - say they censure themselves to protect their students or employment.
"The self-censorship, the chilling effect - I know it exists because people talk about it online," said Sam Smith, a blogger who taught journalism last year at St. Bonaventure University in New York.
"There may be things that they could say that would cost them tenure," he said. "In the academic world, this shouldn't ever be an issue. In reality, that's not always the case."
Meg Spohn's blog can be found here. Meg has a few recent posts about the issue here and here. And in this post she explains the picture of the flaming microbus bus on top of her blog.
Posted on January 8, 2006
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