Drawing the line in freedom of speech

Jess Zimmerman, a college junior attending Butler University was sued by the University for defamation and libel in his original blog, TrueBU.

In an email that was sent to various media outlets and publications Zimmerman stated, “Butler University has become the first university in the nation to file a lawsuit against on-line speech. Campus administrators didn’t like the blog I wrote that criticized their actions, so they sued over it.”

The original blog, TrueBU, was anonymously run by Zimmerman. According to his phone interview with Barry Lynn, the radio show host of Culture Shocks, before Butler University even filed a lawsuit, the University’s lawyer threatened to sue Zimmerman.

In the interview with Lynn, Zimmerman said that Butler did not notify him of the lawsuit, “They filed it on Jan. 8, I didn’t hear about it until June.” They filed the lawsuit and instead of filing it under Zimmerman’s real name they gave him the alias of “John Doe.”

The name John Doe is what gave him the incentive for the title of his new blog, “I am John Doe.” This new blog keeps the accounts from Zimmerman and his case with Butler.

The first to break the story was Inside Higher Ed, which is an online news forum for college and university students, faculty and adjuncts. According to Inside Higher Ed, Zimmerman did not go under his true identity but opted to be known as “Soodo Nym.”

The blog did not receive that much attention until December 2008. According to Inside Higher Ed, it all began when the chair of Butler’s School of Music, Andrea Gullickson was fired without reason.

Gullickson is also Zimmerman’s stepmother. After she was fired that is when Zimmerman wrote the blog that would change his life at Butler. Despite being fired, she was able to retain her job.

In his blog post regarding his stepmother’s situation, Zimmerman stated that the president and the provost acted “inappropriately and inexcusably." The blog post received approximately 2,000 hits after he posted it.

Inside Higher Ed also stated, “Gullickson expressed a similar sentiment, but said a “culture of fear” pervades Butler to the point where being anonymous is often the only way students and faculty members feel they can voice concern.”

The Marion County Court dropped the charges Butler had against Zimmerman. But the University is still holding a trail under their own judicial system with Zimmerman.

In the interview, Lynn asked if he could have an attorney in the room during the trail held by Butler University. Zimmerman responded, “I can have someone there but they cannot say anything.”

Following this interview in Zimmerman’s email he also stated, “The national outcry was so great that they dropped the lawsuit but have now accused me of all of the same things in on campus disciplinary proceedings.

“Oddly enough, the president has written three memos to the faculty convicting me, talking about how he cares for the safety of students, and calling for a trial. I would have preferred the trial prior to the verdict, but that’s not the way Butler has decided to operate in this case.”

Various media publications around the country are questioning how far colleges and universities can go by protecting their first amendment right. They made their opinions about Zimmerman’s case.

Michigan State University’s newspaper The State News ran an opinions piece stating, “If Butler was afraid of bad public relations because of this blog, it really turned the tables on itself. This story now is on a national level, amplifying originally what it tried to contain.

“Butler’s administration appears to have acted recklessly. It suppressed a student’s thoughts at the interest of a valued reputation.” At it’s closing it said, “Sorry Butler, suing your students doesn’t shush harsh statements. If anything, it just makes them more deafening.”

Sometimesdaily.com with Amanda Congdon did a satirical segment dedicated to Zimmerman’s case. Condgon asked, “What happened to freedom of speech?” Congdon further stated, “SometimesDaily asks, “Who’s the bully?”

One of Zimmerman’s most recent blog posts included, Legislative Director of the Federal Anti - Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (Anti – SLAPP) Project Samantha Brown. Brown showed her support for Zimmerman as a guest blogger on his blog.

She wrote, “Butler University seems to have forgotten about this important role in the development of their students. When one of its own operated an anonymous blog featuring comments critical of some University faculty, the University opted not to engage with the blogger, respond to his concerns, or even take them in stride as participation in university life that should be encouraged.

“Instead, Butler threatened the blogger with a lawsuit if the blog wasn’t taken down… Rather than stress the importance of civic engagement ... [Butler University] sought to silence it with the egregious use of the courts as a gag."