A student, 20, at Marquette University has initiated formal complaints against a teacher and others he feels have silenced the debate on same-sex marriage and his free speech right to disagree with its moral and ethical validity. The incident and the ensuing contretemps began when the student, who has chosen to remain anonymous, approached his philosophy professor, Cheryl Abbate, after class. During the class, entitled the “Theory of Ethics,” the issue of gay rights came up, specifically same-sex marriage, at which point Abbate remarked, “Everyone agrees on gay marriage so there’s no need to discuss it.”
The student reportedly told her that what took place in class was not only uncalled for but set a bad precedent for academic freedom. But the professor took a different take. According to one report on mu-warrior.blogspot.in: “ Abbate explained that “some opinions are not appropriate, such as racist opinions, sexist opinions” and then went on to ask “do you know if anyone in your class is homosexual?” And further “don’t you think it would be offensive to them” if some student raised his hand and challenged gay marriage Then things deteriorated further as the student said that it was his right as an American citizen to make arguments against gay marriage. Abbate replied that “you don’t have a right in this class to make homophobic comments.” She further said she would “take offense” if the student said that women can’t serve in particular roles. And she added that somebody who is homosexual would experience similar offense if somebody opposed gay marriage in class. She went on, “In this class, homophobic comments, racist comments, will not be tolerated.” She then invited the student to drop the class.
According to the ChristianExaminer.com, the student then asked Abbate, “Are you saying if I don’t agree with gays not being allowed to get married that I’m homophobic?”
Abbate told the Web site Inside Higher Ed that the “class discussion was not meant to be an opportunity for students to express their personal beliefs about political issues.” She said she hoped Marquette would “use this event as an opportunity to create and actively enforce a policy on cyberbullying and harassment. “It is astounding to me that the university has not created some sort of policy that would prohibit this behavior which undoubtedly leads to a toxic environment for both students and faculty,” she told Inside Higher Ed.
An audio tape of the classroom discussion, however, demonstrates that the young man was being disrespectful to the professor and, when asked if he were recording the interaction, he lied and said ‘no.’
According to TheCollegeFix.com, the only official statement issued so far on the matter is as follows; “Marquette University informs and engages students on a 360-degree view of societal issues. Like colleges and universities across the country, debate and discussion are essential elements of our intellectual environment at Marquette, where our faculty and students have the ability to explore ideas, express opinions and participate in discussion.”
