LeMoyne expels man over paper

[seriousstan]

While students are guaranteed the freedom of speech, LeMoyne College's recent actions against a student have raised questions of whether or not academic papers are the place to exercise this right.

LeMoyne College expelled Scott McConnell, a student from its Masters of Education program, for writing a paper in which he advocated the use of corporal punishment in schools, he said.

The paper, written for a class on classroom management, originally earned McConnell an A-. However, when he attempted to enroll in classes for the spring semester, he found he couldn't.

"LeMoyne doesn't believe students should be able to express their own views," McConnell said. "If you differ from our philosophical ideal you will be expelled from our college."

http://www.dailyorange.com/news/2005/01/25/News/Lemoyne.Expels.Man.Over.Paper-840196.shtml

[VegasWolf]

1. Kinda makes grad work a moot point if all a student does is regurigatate

what he is taught.

[chimpy the poopthrower]

2. Anybody notice something missing from this article?

Like maybe a comment from the college? Did the writer even attempt to get one from them? This story sounds very fishy to me. It doesn't say anywhere in the article that he was expelled over the paper - only in the headline. For all we know, he couldn't enroll because his tuition was in arrears. "when he attempted to enroll in classes for the spring semester, he found he couldn't" -- so the school doesn't notify people when it expels them? Something stinks here.

[AZCat]

3. The article is missing some info and is not LBN

This was covered by The Post Standard back on the twentieth.
Paras from their article that are relevant (IMHO):

A Van Buren man who wants to be a teacher was not accepted into the Le Moyne College education master's program, apparently because of a paper he wrote for one of his classes that advocated the use of corporal punishment and rejected multicultural learning in the classroom.
<snip>
That was until Saturday, when he received a letter from Le Moyne's Graduate Education Program, informing him he would not be allowed to register for any more courses and that his registration for spring had been withdrawn.
<snip>
"I have grave concerns regarding the mismatch between your personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the Le Moyne College program goals," leading to the decision not to admit him, Leogrande wrote.
<snip>
In the opening paragraph of his essay, McConnell wrote: "I do not feel that multicultural education has a philosophical place or standing in an American classroom, especially one that I will teach. I also feel that corporal punishment has a place in the classroom and should be implemented when needed." He got an A for the course.
<snip>

More at the article - it was hard keeping to the four paragraph rule.


So:
He wasn't expelled, he just wasn't admitted to the graduate program.

It just wasn't about spanking, but about his whole approach, including a rejection of multiculturalism.

Since the school officials are prohibited from discussing the episode McConnell can run with whatever story he wants without any rebuttal - recognise this tactic?

[Moderator]

4. Locking - not Latest Breaking News

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x87249

Thank you.
DU Moderator