In February, Scott McConnell, a master's student in education at Le Moyne College, was expelled for writing an essay in which he criticized multicultural education and expressed the opinion that corporal punishment has a place in the classroom. McConnell received an A- for the paper--but he also received a letter from the chair of Le Moyne's education department telling him he would not be allowed to continue in the program because there were "grave concerns regarding the mismatch between (McConnell's) personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the LeMoyne College program goals." In other words, McConnell was expelled because his personal beliefs did not mesh with the school's ideological agenda. FIRE defended McConnell, and after unsuccessful attempts to remonstrate privately with Le Moyne administrators, FIRE went public with McConnell's story. The case drew national attention, but Le Moyne still did not mend its ways, claiming not only that McConnell was enrolled on a "conditional" basis when he wrote the problem paper, but also that McConnell's views effectively guaranteed that he would be uncertifiable as a teacher in New York State, where teachers are required to cultivate a multicultural classroom and where corporal punishment by teachers is disallowed. But there is a long way between the expression of views--which may themselves be provisional or experimental--in a written assignment for a course and carrying out those views in an actual classroom in knowing violation of the law. Le Moyne preemptively collapsed that distance when it expelled McConnell--and as a result the college now has a $20 million lawsuit on its hands; McConnell is suing the school for violating his civil rights and for causing him emotional distress.

Good for McConnell. About time the ed establishment got told off.

I realize that bodily punishment is not permissible these days, but for LeMoyne to act as it did is just ridiculous. First they give the guy an A- for his paper and then they unilaterally state that he will not be certifiable as a teacher and does not fit their agenda so they are kicking him out.

Teaching methods that work are not cut in stone. Some methods work best for teachers of one type and other methods for best for other teachers. For the school to try to straitjacket the methodology to just one type does a great disservice to the future of education. Talk about the different methodologies and see which suits you, then decide if teaching is the right job for you.

I hope McConnell wins and gets the whole amount - and I don't like this tpe of lawsuit in most cases. I think that the point of view espoused by LeMoyne needs to be held responsible and needs to be forced to face up to the damage they are doing.

If the facts are as FIRE has stated (and FIRE has a reputation for being careful about the facts), then I wish McConnell success with the lawsuit. I teach in a college of education, and I was involved in extensive discussions about how to have due process when we do think students have clearly violated ethical and professional standards (e.g., tried to date a student in a high school they were interning in). And this is a case where I don't think there's a shred of evidence that he was unwilling to follow the law.

I wish him great luck and success in his suit.