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That professor who tried to shut down a debate I was holding on the quad
I was tabling for a free speech group last fall at Ohio State. One professor walked up, told me my flyer was 'harmful rhetoric,' and literally tried to take it out of my hand. She stood there for 10 minutes arguing that my right to speak ended where her feelings started. Has anyone else had faculty try to physically remove your materials?
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wyatt1351mo ago
Man, that's wild! I had something pretty similar happen at University of Texas back in 2019. I was handing out pamphlets about a campus speaker event, and this one adjunct professor walked up and started yanking them out of people's hands. So I just calmly took a step back and said in a really even voice, 'You can disagree with me all you want, but taking my stuff is theft.' Then I pulled out my phone and started recording her, since Ohio is a one-party consent state for recording, you know? She got all flustered and walked off real quick. Honestly, keeping your cool and calling out the specific legal line they're crossing works better than getting loud.
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aaron7401mo ago
Haha @wyatt135 beat me to the recording trick, guess I should've brought my phone instead of just standing there looking like a confused puppy. Tried that same calm approach once and the professor just started yelling louder, so now I just pack extra flyers in my backpack for when they get 'confiscated.'
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Wait, she actually grabbed at your flyer? That's insane! I can't believe a professor would physically try to take something out of a student's hand like that. I had a similar thing happen at my school where a grad student kept yelling at me from across the quad and then tried to knock over my table, but at least they didn't grab my stuff directly. The way you described her standing there arguing for 10 minutes is just wild to me, like they think their personal feelings override basic property rights. You handled that way better than I would have, I probably would've just walked away and called campus security.
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