A University of Colorado professor has announced plans to violate the Constitutional rights of students at the university. In a move that is a clear rejection of the state's Supreme Court decision to allow students the right to bear arms on campus, CU-Boulder physics professor Jerry Peterson stated that "if I am aware that there is a firearm in the class--registered or unregistered, concealed or unconcealed--the class is immediately canceled."
The professor's declaration that he would refuse to teach class if a student dared to exercise their Constitutional right is not only a slap in the face to the authority of the Supreme Court, but also a clear violation of the rights of the students. And under what authority does this professor dole out legal decisions from the lofty heights of his ivory tower? His own it would seem. A CU-Boulder official stated that "students with concealed-carry permits do not have to comply" with such self-imposed restrictions; sweeping away any legitimacy this would-be tyrant plans to impose on his students.
Passed in 2003, the state's Concealed Carry Act prohibited local governments from limiting gun rights with a few exception, however, colleges and universities were not included. Liberal professors, the core constituency of anti-gun colleges and universities, immediately reacted with their usual knee-jerk answer to, in a move that was a clear violation of state law, simply ban guns from campuses.
It was in March that the ban on guns on campus was overturned by the state's highest court, freeing the state's student population from the fear of another campus shooting. Proponents of the decision claim that with some of the students armed, the chance of a successful mass shooting is considerable reduced because it is more likely that any would-be shooter would run into an armed opponent.
But Professor Jerry Peterson has decided to violate the law himself and refuse to allow students to exercise their Constitutional rights. Despite that the students pay an enormous amount to attend his classes, and notwithstanding the fact that he is being paid to teach, he has chosen to refuse to teach his class if a student dares to exercise their rights. Not only should professor Peterson not be paid if he follows through on his threat, but the University should seriously consider whether they want to employ a professor who callously and publicly flouts the law.
And while other drug-addled hippie-leftover professors may come to his aid and even claim that he is standing in defense of some higher principle, or in the shadow of the great Civil Rights acts of public disobedience, let the public not forget that it is Professor Peterson who is violating the Constitutional rights of his students with his actions. He is the bad guy in this situation, the one who is imposing his personal views on his students in clear violation of the law. In terms of moral righteousness, by Peterson's actions, the liberal left has come full circle; from victim to transgressor
University of Colorado-Boulder Professor Jerry Peterson is a perfect example of the liberal left and their respect for the laws of this nation. They love to go to court for the most insignificant of reasons, but when they lose, like children, they refuse to abide by the court's decisions. Well, it seems that Professor Peterson will need to be forced to obey the law, or he may find himself one of the millions of unemployed people in America. In the least, any student with a concealed carry permit should take his class and exercise their rights.
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Comments: 2
There is no freedom without responsibility. When we exercise a freedom, we must be willing to accept the consequences of it. If we allow one group to exercise it's freedom while preventing another from exercising theirs, that is not freedom. That is anarchy of the strong. Nothing the professor is doing is preventing the students from exercising their rights. But they have to accept the consequences of that act. This particular teacher doesn't want to be locked in a small room with 30 people who may have firearms. He has a right to feel safe in the workplace. This situation makes him feel unsafe.
However, like doctors in the OR, I'm guessing that a professor has the right to dictate how his or her classroom should be.
So, both sides are ignoring the other side's right to choose.