Jonathan Lopez has filed a lawsuit against a professor and Los Angeles City College over his treatment after giving a speech on the Christian view of marriage in speech class. Lopez alleges that Professor John Matteson had made it clear that he supported same-sex marriage. He claims that Matteson allegedly attacked him verbally, refused let him complete his speech, effectively called him a “fascist bastard” and refused to give him a grade (telling him to “ask God” for his grade).
Matteson is listed as the co-director of Forensics at the Speech Department.
The complaint in Lopez v. Candaele, (CD CA, filed 2/11/2009) was filed with the support of the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, which litigates such claims. For a copy of the complaint, click here.
Lopez also alleges that Matteson told him that he would make sure that Lopez was expelled and told his entire class after the November election, “If you voted yes on Proposition 8, you are a fascist bastard.”
For the press release, click here.
For the full story, click here.
Aw c’mon Mike it was getting fun. Don’t run home just yet……..
Mike,
I wasn’t claiming the professor behaved well, just wondering about the viability of a possible defense.
Oh Miiiiiiike, come out come out wherever you are……….
Mike, in the final equation you are painfully in need of validation and you are suffering from an overload of hubris. I can only hope that your pathetic life in front of your computer screen will still allow you to venture out of doors to marvel at the beauties of the natural world. By the way your knowledge does not seem to extend into the realm of Paleobotany and paleontology. What a shame, I was going to refer to the works of Tidwell and Syd Ash who are the preeminent scholars on fossilized plant material from the southwest. Using the binomial system of botanical nomenclature will not be applied for you, as you would not understand a single thing I say. It would be like speaking Cantonese to a Laotian………….
Gyges,
I know that, but I was just unnecessarily underlining your point re education.
As for the rest, you’re right there were a lot of witnesses. now if they backed the professor wouldn’t it then hang on what he actually said to the student in class. If it was as the student alleged, then he might have gone overboard even in his dealing with the disruption of the class. However, if he was less vituperative in his dismissal, if agreed on by most of the witnesses, then he was acting reasonably.
Just as as aside in my collection of silicified wood I now have specimens of palmoxylon, Podocarpoxylon, Araucarioxylon and araucaria maribils, from patagonia and the alto plano. My pride and joy is the awesome six inch cross sectional slab of fossilized wood fiber from the catahoula Formation in Louisiana. It is of the dark variety as it is rich in manganese and is fully agatized. I am tentatively guessing that it is approximately 25 million years old. My arizonicum is very ancient dating back to the Triassic period of the Mesozoic era the age of the Dinosaur! I am in the process of aquiring some wondeful fossilized pecan and hickory of the family Juglandaceae from the genus Carya.
“Mike, the extent of your knowledge in the earth sciences extends only to what you can access on Wikkpedia, that’s okay it’s a start…..”
You don’t get irony do you? To spell it out for you I was showing what crap your comment was in your vain attempt to show off. I’m sure if I googled further I’d find the reference you copied your original comment from. The more you write the more you seem like an eleventh grader home from school with a sore throat. The quality of your immaturity shows through and so for your sake I hope that’s true, because if it isn’t and you’re an adult then you’re in deep trouble. Don’t they teach earth Science in the eleventh grade?
“I have now realized, I am in a law web blog.”
Res ipsa loquitur
Mike,
I never said I wasn’t smart, just not as well educated. I’ve don’t generally confuse intelligence with education, and neither do most of the people here (which was my point).
The signed statements that Mespo referred to might go a long way to establishing that. Let’s not forget that this didn’t happen in a vacuum, there was a classroom full of witnesses who can testify to how disruptive the speech was or wasn’t. I’m just wondering if he could prove that his motives weren’t based on the content of the speech but the manner in which it was presented if it would be a valid defense.
Gyges,
Left out the “it.”
Should be:
wouldn’t it take a heap of proof to show the student was disrupting the class by reading his assignment?
Mike, the extent of your knowledge in the earth sciences extends only to what you can access on Wikkpedia, that’s okay it’s a start…..
Bob,
Great quote, great book and yeah I’m guilty also of straying off topic. Ignorant smugness has a way if getting under my skin.
Gyges,
You are as smart as they come and you know it. As to your question and from admittedly a law school flunk out, wouldn’t take a heap of proof to show the student was disrupting the class by reading his assignment?
Hey Mike you forgot to many all the Paleobotany data I was so eager to share with my readers. I guess your skill set dosn’t extend to geology paleobotany and stratigaraphy. But then why would it you are deficient in this highly scientific discipline.
I have now realized, I am in a law web blog. You are all legal eagles who either practice law, study law or teach law, or are just flat out interested in law. Kudos to you legal eagles, you are the great interpreters of our constitution, I will sleep better knowing you hard at the books. Again, thankyou……..
“Basalt (pronounced /bəˈsɔːlt, ˈbeisɔːlt, ˈbæsɔːlt/)[1][2] is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually gray to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or gray.
The most common uses for this rock are as aggregate in highway construction, railroad ballast, and tile. Basalt is also a major component of asphalt.
On Earth, most basalt magmas have formed by decompression melting of the mantle. Basalt has also formed on Earth’s Moon, Mars, Venus, and even on the asteroid Vesta. Source rocks for the partial melts probably include both peridotite and pyroxenite (e.g., Sobolev et al., 2007). The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling mantle below ocean ridges.
The term basalt is at times applied to shallow intrusive rocks with a composition typical of basalt, but rocks of this composition with a phaneritic (coarse) groundmass are generally referred to as dolerite (also called diabase) or gabbro.”
Wikipedia. Party on puppy.
Jonny boy,
“When you stated you read so many books , name a few. What is your educational background? I have two bachelor of science degrees. One in behavioral science and another in geology. I am two classes away from receiving my MA, which I will be receiving in May. My work pays me close to six figures although I am off with a cold the past few days.”
“Just as an aside Mike diplomas and degrees really come a dime a dozen”
“Buddhaman: You stated that you have read so many books, I consider myself a bit of a bibliophile, Tellme about some of the thought provoking books you have read and how they have helped to shape your thinking and value system. Remember I don’t impress easily.”
Are you that dense that you don’t see the dichotomy there?
Basalt is a volcanic rock composed of very finely grained silica, or silicon dioxide. Silicon dioxide forms the common mineral quartz and it’s varities including it’s cousins chalcedony agate and even Opal. Opal is composed of silicon diaxide and H2O which is why it is so brittle and cracks when heat causes it to expand. Basalt is rich in iron oxide and does compose most of the earth’s crust. Of course Granite is an igneous rock with an admixture of many minerals, with many potential origins. My personal favorites are rainbow wood. which is the state fossil of arizona. The scientific name is Araucarioxylon arizonicum and it is often referred to as rainbowwood. The red colors are due to the iron oxide which also helps to turn it beautifully yellow. The black color is caused by the introduction of manganese and green variteies in the Chinle formation are due to introduction of Chromium. The closest living extant relative of arizonicum is Araucaria heterophylla, or the norfolk Island Pine found off the coast of queensland australia. The family Araucariaciae is an ancient form of conifer with only a few extant species, all found only in the southern hemisphere. By the way I recently aquired an awesome specimen of Palmoxylon from the Catahoula Formation in Louisiana. I can party around this puppy for days
Bob,
Would the Profs. motivation be a factor in this? What if he stopped the speech because it was disruptive to the class rather than based on his opposition to the student’s view point?
My advice to all on this blog is read the book, The People of the Lie, by M. Scott Peck M.D. It is a powerful and thought provoking read………..
Jon,
I’m relatively late to this dance, but ’round here we don’t ‘kin much to Arguments from authority.
While Mike might rate himself as the among the lowest education wise, I am probably the lowest education wise. My chosen college major was music. I don’t especially want to get into why I didn’t graduate, but it has something to do with a lack of money and not really needing an actual degree to work in my chosen field. My point is most people here know my education is almost exclusively in the arts, but when they disagree they argue the logic\facts of my opinion, not the fact that they’ve have more years of schooling under their belt.
Bob, Esq.
Much obliged for the “Good will.”