RICHMOND, Va. — A Regent University law student says school officials have threatened to discipline him for posting an unflattering photo of founder Pat Robertson on his Facebook page.I'm not sure the school isn't well within their rights to toss this guy out if they wish. The photo suggests that Robertson was doing something that he apparently wasn't and isn't in the habit of doing, and the other problem with demanding first amendment protection is that it's supposed to apply to political speech, and not misrepresentations unrelated to politics.
Adam M. Key, 23, posted on the social-networking Web site a picture of Regent's chancellor and president making what appears to be an obscene gesture. Key copied it from a YouTube video in which Robertson scratches his face with his middle finger.
The second-year law student said officials at the private Christian university in Virginia Beach demanded that he publicly apologize, then withhold public comment about the matter, or submit to the law school dean a legal brief defending the posting. Key chose the latter, arguing that his posting was satire protected under the First Amendment.
"I believe they're wrong from a legal standpoint," the Houston native said in a telephone interview Thursday. "But also, it's important in the Christian faith to be able to criticize our leaders."
According to Key, Dean Jeffrey Brauch rejected his written legal brief, and he now faces disciplinary action — perhaps even expulsion — under the university's standards of personal conduct.
"I will pay any price to defend free expression — especially against anyone who wants to take it away in the name of God," Key said.
I'm not a lawyer, I just play one at HolyCoast.com.
I fully expect the ACLU to jump on this one and defend the student as soon as they can get a lawyer there.
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