CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) - As a philosophy professor of 24 years, Dr. Nicholas Meriwether knows that words and language carry meaning and that they express what a person believes regarding reality.
That’s why he says he was unable to address a male student with a feminine pronoun or title, which led eventually to a lawsuit after the transgender student filed a complaint with Dr. Meriwether’s employer, Shawnee State University.
“I strive to make my classroom a place of mutual respect,” Dr. Meriwether said. “So, I offered to use the name the student was currently using and avoid using the pronouns the student found offensive. However, the administration completely rejected this compromise and punished me for living according to my convictions.”
In response, the professor sued the trustees of Shawnee State University in the Southern District of Ohio, alleging they had violated his First Amendment rights, but the case was dismissed.
According to Dr. Meriwether, public universities shouldn't require professors or students to abandon their beliefs.
“Just as I would never require students to affirm a view of reality with which they disagree, the administration should not force me to speak in a way that violates my conscience,” he said. “We are richly blessed to live in a nation that protects diversity of thought and expression and that protects the freedom to agree to disagree.”
Dr. Meriwether appealed the lower federal court’s dismissal and the case is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, where Meriwether’s attorney, John Bursch, participated in oral arguments the morning of Nov. 19.
“We argued before the Sixth Circuit what used to be a common belief that nobody should be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job but that is exactly what Shawnee State University is attempting to do to Dr. Meriwether, which is to punish him unless he abandoned his core beliefs,” said Bursch, senior counsel and vice president of appellate advocacy at Alliance Defending Freedom.
The attorney for Shawnee State University, according to Bursch, argued at the hearing that the First Amendment doesn't apply in this context of the classroom. However, Bursch disagrees.
“Freedom of speech and religious exercise includes the freedom not to speak messages against our core beliefs,” he said. “These freedoms must be vigorously protected.”
The university gave the professor no way to speak without endorsing philosophies that he believes are false and that violate his Christian belief system, he alleges.
“If universities are to remain places where contentious ideas can be debated so that learning can take place, students must be able to express their views and all that Professor Meriwether is asking is that professors be given the same freedom,” Bursch said.