Laura Curry, a professor of film at the University of Buffalo, has been arrested after she confronted a pro-life demonstration using profane language. In the video below, Curry objects to being asked to stop because of her language. She insists that she has a first amendment right to swear. In my view, she is correct. I do not see how this is any cognizable crime. One can certainly disagree with the tenor or public conduct of the professor, but this would seem protected speech. This is the second such arrest of a professor in a month for denouncing a campus demonstration. There are really two legal issues presented in such cases: a criminal case (which is quite weak) and an academic case (which is likely to be more substantial) against the professor.
Curry is shown on the video below confronting the students on a picture shown in their pro-life displays, which she called “fucking profane.” Police tell her that she is being disruptive and to stop swearing. Curry asked “Where does it say I can’t use the fuck word in public . . I can swear because that’s part of my vocabulary. That’s part of my First Amendment rights.” She asks why she can be stopped for being profane but they can show a poster viewed as profane.
As she is arrested, Curry is heard asking a witness to tell her students that she will miss her class because she is being arrested.
Curry is an adjunct instructor of media study.
As with the earlier Oregon story, the arrest will raise a question over whether a professor should have to comply with a more restrictive standard of conduct than an ordinary citizen on campus. I personally believe that professors can protest but they have to be more measured in their conduct as part of maintaining a community where different views and values can be expressed. Moreover, this is not the type of dialogue that we try to encourage in campuses. You can strongly disagree without reducing such confrontations to swearing contests. This are tough questions for faculty that balance free speech of faculty with faculty codes imposing standards of conduct. The Emory Faculty Handbook bars faculty from “Inappropriate, disruptive, discourteous or irregular behavior adversely affecting students, employees, patients, or visitors.” There are similar prohibitions at other schools sites.
What is clear is that this should not be a criminal case and the arrest should not have occurred in my view. The matter should be left to the University of Buffalo faculty on whether this conduct meets the standard of a professor at the university.
Here is the handbook: 2013FacultyHandbookInt
And what Tony C. said.
====
Blouise on April 18, 2013 at 10:15 am:
F*ck is a great word … but I can’t use it here.
—
Blouise,
We can’t, but…
http://youtu.be/NanVA_VQK1w
Dave 1, April 18, 2013 at 10:37 am
Her problem was volume. That’s why they moved in.
=======
Woe to the woman who dares to raise her voice.
I’m agnostic on this one. Using profane language At some point, screaming “that is f*cking profane!” at someone crosses the line of disturbing the peace or disorderly conduct. I’m not sure what I see on video quite gets there, but it’s a judgment call and the cops certainly seem to have given her fair warning before arresting her. Unfortunately, the video doesn’t capture what she was doing before the police started talking to her.
This country has always had a problem with outspoken women.
In the late 19th century two sisters, Tennessee Claflin and Victoria Claflin Woodhull, “ran both a successful stockbroking firm and published a magazine named Woodhull And Claflin’s Weekly, which espoused a variety of utopian schemes and engaged in an early form of ‘outing’ . . .”
Archives are here:
http://victoria-woodhull.com/wcwarchive.htm
In 1872, Woodhull ran for president (the Equal Rights Party) with Frederick Douglas as her VP candidate. However, with her outspokenness they didn’t get far:
“If I want sexual intercourse with one or one hundred men I shall have it. And this sexual intercourse business may as well be discussed . . . until you are so familiar with your sexual organs that a reference to them will no longer make the blush mount to your face any more than a reference to any other part of your body.”
From 1872-1893, Angela Heywood, with her publisher husband, Ezra, contributed to The Word, a periodical that openly discussed sexuality, abortion, birth control, and women’s rights. Angela was also very outspoken:
“Angela Heywood launched a spirited campaign for free love in which she made the universal acceptance of ‘f***’ a central tenet. Why should she be compelled to use the term ‘generative sexual intercourse’ in her lectures, she repeatedly asked: ‘Three words, twenty-seven letters, to define a given action . . . commonly spoken in one word of four letters that everybody knows the meaning of.'”
Quoted material from:
Bill Bryson. “Made In America: An Informal History Of The English Language In The United States.” Avon Books. New York, N.Y. 1994. 311-313.
What I don’t get is recent assertions that obscenity CAN be investigated under anti-terrorism laws, and terrorism can be defined as loosely as “any action intimidating a civilian”…and we see this woman arrested for loudly voicing her opinion; and yet the KKK can march with their hate on parade —which would definitely infuriate and intimidate me were I a person of color.
Some pretty selective implementation of legal prerogatives it seems.
This stuff has to stop…. Even offense speech should be protected…..
Censored speech is not free speech. I think the professor has a right to express an opinion.
The only point of restraint I would worry about is if she is cursing at students she teaches; but certainly that is not a matter for POLICE, and for the POLICE, this was a false arrest and harassment and they should be punished. I hope she files a lawsuit.
As an aside, what purpose did that professor serve by this rant. A better approach might have been to respectfully confront the demonstrators with some rational argument instead of an atavistic verbal assault. She has made the point for the demonstrators that their approach is the more rational one when those barbaric signs suggest otherwise.
While in law school, I once saw a crazy protest in Richmond against an abortion clinic by some religious right wackos. The situation was diffused by the father of one of the young women seeking treatment. Confronted with threats and cries of “Murderer” and “Baby Killer,” the man left his wife and daughter for a moment, and went up to one of the more antagonistic screamers. He asked her what church she attended. When told, he replied: “I’m fifty-years-old. I’ve been to church every Sunday. I’ve never read one passage or heard one homily about Jesus hating anyone.”
He walked into the building amid complete silence.
well if you cant videotape the cops why should you be allowed to curse in public?
“If you can’t say F*ck you can’t say, F*ck the government.”
~Lenny Bruce
She’ll be out of that courthouse in 15 minutes.
Oh dear. Those poor cops don’t deal well with “hysteria” do they? Poor dear. Her shoes were probably too tight, that’s what she gets for leaving the house.
One hopes the same strength of her vocabulary will sustain her in court where she has the opportunity to strike back with all due course. Is there now some national standard that you have to have a certain percentage of effing morons on your local police force? That fraction is dangerously high.
Yes, I said “effing.”
Frankly,
Poseurs? 😉
Her problem was volume. That’s why they moved in.
Blouise – F*? heck, I posted yesterday using a common term for the child of an unwed relationship & got blocked. pretty sensitive folks around here
A Forced Pregnancy demo might make me use profanity, too. She doesn’t sound out of control, just in strong disagreement. A university review, should one happen, should not include the fact that she missed teaching a class since the arrest should not have occurred.
While the university may be able to sanction her or discipline her, the arrest is bogus and I think she should look into a false arrest action. Where is George Carlin when you need him? 🙂
The arrest was illegal and ridiculous. Beyond that though the entire issue of profane language has always seemed both ridiculous and hypocritical to me. It is only words. Some words have been deemed proper “excrement” for instance, yet “sh*t” is considered improper. Why is that? The use of the “F” word (the fact that I have to denote it as such due to WordPress is an absurdity) is so common in private speech, yet is censored on the airways and as such is nonsensical to my viewpoint.
F*ck is a great word … but I can’t use it here.
Yeah, there are lots of these nonsense statutes, but they don’t stand up in court. The video exonerates her. She’s upset, but no one is being obstructed.
“She insists that she has a first amendment right to swear. In my view, she is correct. I do not see how this is any cognizable crime. One can certainly disagree with the tenor or public conduct of the professor, but this would seem protected speech.”
Another bad arrest by ill informed lawless enforcement.