Professor Sues to Display Custer Poster
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (Reuters) - A college history professor sued his school on Thursday, saying he was unjustly disciplined for displaying a poster of American Indian fighter General George Custer.
Jon Willand, an American history professor for more than 30 years at North Hennepin Community College, said he was reprimanded for hanging a recruiting poster depicting Custer and seeking soldiers to fight "militant Sioux", a reference to the Indian tribe.
The school, in a suburb of Minneapolis, also received a student complaint after Willand made comments to his class that Pocahontas, the 17th Century Indian princess who married a white settler at Jamestown, Va., "did handsprings in the nude."
"It wasn't meant to be offensive, it was just an offhand remark meant to perk attention," Willand said in a telephone interview. "We've always had a problem with censorship, but with political correctness hitting full tide here within the last five or 10 years its gotten worse."
According to the suit filed in federal court, the school forbade Willand from using "examples which are provocative or inflammatory" or "phraseology which does not manifest a clear concern for student sensibilities and which may promote student misunderstandings."
Willand said he is battling for his right of free speech, though he is aware some students were offended. "The problem with censoring what someone considers offensive is that offensiveness is in the eye of the beholder," he said.
Northwestern Law School professor Martin Reddish said the courts have tended to protect academic freedoms in higher education, but Willand may have difficulty winning because he teaches at a community college.
The courts have ruled elementary and high schools have the right to determine curriculum, not the teachers, Reddish said.
A spokeswoman for North Hennepin said she would not comment on the suit or the restrictions placed on Willand.
