Lawsuit raises issues over preferred pronouns
A lawsuit filed by a Shawnee State University professor could potentially have consequences for students’ preferred pronouns on college campuses.
And it could potentially lead to discrimination in the classroom beyond preferred pronoun use, according to a constitutional law expert and the head of a nonprofit group that advocates for equality for the LGBTQ community.
“If this case were to come out poorly, the implications are devastating, honestly, for young people on college campuses,” said Siobhan Boyd-nelson, Equality Ohio acting executive director and director of development and external relations.
“Essentially, if the case turned out badly, it would be saying that we don’t have to respect another person’s human dignity in such an important space such as an educational space,” she said.
The situation began in 2018, when Nicholas Meriwether, a philosophy professor at Shawnee State University, called a transgender student “sir” during a lecture when she raised her hand. The student explained to him after class that she identifies as a woman and asked that he use her preferred pronouns. Meriwether refused the student’s request, who is identified in court documents as Jane Doe.
This sparked an investigation by school officials who found Meriwether created a “hostile environment.”
He was given a written warning that he could be fired or suspended without pay for violating the university’s nondiscrimination policy.
But Meriwether contends that the university’s action violated his First Amendment right to free speech and free exercise of religion and sued in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in Columbus. On March 26, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati overturned the district court and ruled Meriwether can sue the university for an alleged violation of his constitutional rights.
“Since Meriwether has plausibly alleged that Shawnee State violated his First Amendment rights by compelling his speech or silence and casting a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom, his free-speech claim may proceed,” the appeals court’s 32-page opinion states.
Hearings in U.S. District Court to continue Meriwether’s case have not yet been scheduled. Shawnee State could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The idea that there is a free speech right to say absolutely anything in the classroom, no matter how offensive it is to a student, just can’t possibly be true, and I don’t believe the federal courts will follow up on it,” said Andrew Koppelman, the John Paul Stevens Professor of Law and a political science professor and constitutional law expert at Northwestern University who has been following this case closely.
Koppelman said the 6th Circuit’s decision has the potential to lead to blatant racism and sexism on college campuses.
“The principle announced (by the 6th Circuit) would apply equally to a professor who from time to time addressed African American students by the N-word or who refused to call on African American students or who refused to call on women because he thought that neither of those groups ought to participate in class discussion,” Koppelman said.
Preferred pronoun policies on college campuses
Shawnee State, which had about 3,640 students enrolled in the fall of 2019, is 92 miles south of Columbus in Portsmouth in Scioto County, along the Ohio River.
The university adopted a non-discrimination policy on April 12, 2019, that prohibits discrimination because of gender identity. There is no specific preferred pronoun policy.
Most public and private universities in Ohio have a preferred pronoun policy, Boyd-nelson said.
Pronoun use at Ohio State University is covered by the university’s Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity
& Non-discrimination/harassment policy. OSU’S policy says the university does not discriminate on the basis of gender identity or expression “in its education program or activity, which includes employment.”
Ohio University adopted a Name and Pronoun Policy in 2015 and it reads: “Ohio University is committed to fostering an environment of inclusiveness and supporting students’ preferred form of self-identification. With this in mind, this policy provides definitions for and uses of names and pronouns recorded for students.”
David Brown, the legal director for the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, a civil rights organization focused on transgender equality, said a transgender student should ask for a preferred pronoun policy if their college doesn’t already have one.
“I think higher education institutions and K-12 institutions, as well, can avoid such risks by creating a simple policy in advance that ensures that they are institutions that are safe and respectful toward transgender students,” he said.
Meriwether said the lawsuit isn’t about preferred pronouns.
“I think that’s … a side issue,” he said. “What this case is really about is requiring professors to adhere or conform to an ideology that the professors do not agree with.”
Meriwether: ‘I simply could not comply’ with pronoun request
Meriwether told The Dispatch that his Christian faith was a big reason why he chose not to call the student by her preferred pronoun. He said he also had philosophical, scientific and biological reasons.
“I simply could not comply with that,” he said. He has taught at Shawnee State since 1996. Shawnee State said in a statement the university is disappointed in the 6th Circuit’s ruling.
“We were hopeful that the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals would recognize that the accommodations we extended to Dr. Meriwether were respectful of his religious views and also protected our student from discrimination in the classroom,” the statement read.
The Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian nonprofit organization advocating for “religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family” based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is representing Meriwether in the case.
“At Shawnee State, students are able to express their views,” said Tyson Langhofer, ADF’S senior counsel and director of the Center for Academic Freedom. “All professor Meriwether is asking for is really the same freedom.” mhenry@dispatch.com @megankhenry