eCampus News: Student can re-enroll after blog dispute

Student can re-enroll after blog dispute. Judge says student’s online writing did not violate school’s honor code. eCN • September 2009 • www.eCampusNews..com, Law & Ethics, pg.34.

A University of Louisville nursing student expelled over blog posts about an assignment to follow a woman the day she gave birth has won the right to return to school from a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson ruled Aug. 3 that Nina Yoder, who was dismissed from school on March 2, can re-enroll because the school violated a contractual agreement with her in the dismissal.

Yoder was dismissed after the university ran across her blog on a MySpace page. The blog covered a variety of topics, including religion, sex, guns, and politics. She mentioned the university several times but revealed no patient names in postings. In dismissing Yoder, the university said in a letter that she violated the school’s honor code and confidentiality agreement by posting blog items concerning patient activities and naming the university on her MySpace page. The judge sidestepped the constitutional and free-speech questions raised in the lawsuit. Instead, he focused on how the honor code and confidentiality agreement that students must sign are written and explained.

“Upon review of the relevant texts, the court finds that the blog post does not violate either of these two agreements,” Simpson wrote in a 12-page decision.The blog post that resulted in Yoder’s dismissal involved an assignment to follow a pregnant woman through the birthing process. In the post, Yoder criticizes the woman she finds to follow, as well as pregnant women at the hospital in general. “I came to work, overwhelmed with emotions and new knowledge and experience,”

Yoder wrote. “I sat down, looked around and once again proved that women are FREAKING STUPID and don’t learn from their past mistakes. I said: ‘I want another baby!

David L. Hudson, Jr., a scholar at the First Amendment Center and an author of 20 books, said the University of Louisville case is the latest in a series of questionable decisions by higher-education officials when faced with students’ web-based writing. “The whole situation is emblematic of a growing trend of punishing people for their online expression,” said Hudson, who teaches courses at Vanderbilt University Law School and the Nashville School of Law.

“Many people act as if the internet is a legal-free zone, and it is anything but.” Hudson said he did not expect Simpson’s decision to affect future cases that pit student blogs against educational institutions. “This was a well-reasoned decision, though it did not reach larger constitutional free speech issues,” he said. “The judge pointed out that the school could apply its honor code more broadly if it changed the policy and provided fair notice.

Hmm..exactly the reason why we are embarking to champion this Digital Citizenship cause. What other justification do we need? Right.

hamid