Ok, Here's A Freedom of Expression Situation For You All

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
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London, Ontario
Student who got kicked out of college over ‘Hot for Teacher’ essay sues for $2.2 million

The Daily Caller – 21 hours ago

A former student at Oakland University in the suburbs of Detroit is suing the school for over $2.2 million after he was kicked out in September 2011 for penning a salacious essay entitled “Hot for Teacher.”
Joseph Corlett, 57, a builder who now resides in Florida, filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, reports the Detroit Free Press. He claims the public university violated his First Amendment right to freedom of expression. He says he also suffered mental anguish and humiliation when he was forced to leave the school.
The suit names the school’s board of trustees and two high-ranking officials as defendants.
When Corlett wrote the essay, he was majoring in writing and rhetoric and working toward a bachelor’s degree. The class at issue was English 380: Advanced Critical Writing. The comely blond instructor was Pamela Mitzelfeld.
Corlett named his cursive composition “Hot for Teacher” after the sexually suggestive 1984 Van Halen song. Its undeniable thesis was that he was very attracted to Mitzelfeld.
“There is no way I’ll concentrate in class especially with that sexy little mole on her upper lip beckoning with every accented word,” the nontraditional student wrote, according to the Free Press. “And that smile.”
“I’ve had a few worries lately, the first that Lynn Anne, my wife, would read this. But now I don’t care. I suppose my fear is a good sign that I’m writing honestly,” he also wrote, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Corlett also compared Mitzelfeld to Ginger Grant, the movie star castaway on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island.”
Several journal pages were attached to Corlett’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Mitzelfeld promised that students could write about anything. She hoped to get “the raw stuff,” says the suit.
Corlett’s attorney, Alari Adams described the essay as “a whimsical exaggeration of his attraction” to his instructor, notes the Sun-Times.
“In the end, he just ended up getting suspended from school for completing a homework assignment,” Adams told the Free Press.
Oakland University officials apparently saw the matter differently. According to Corlett, school police led him out of Mitzelfeld’s class a couple days after he turned in his journal containing the libertine essay. He was also told that he’d been suspended from school for the remainder of the semester.
In January 2012, a school committee found Corlett guilty of “intimidating behavior” because of his essay. He says he was banned from campus for a year. He would only be allowed back if he successfully completed sensitivity counseling.
An Oakland University representative had no comment, says the Free Press.

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On the one hand, suspension from a college, where everyone is supposed to be an adult and therefore the subject matter of any open creative writing assignment should not be grounds for a suspension. But on the other hand, I find the subject he chose to write about and what he did write creepy as hell.
 

55Mercury

rigid member
May 31, 2007
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If he actually named the teacher in his essay then I would think that would be crossing the line... but I think there may be more to the story than I'm seeing in the OP... though I didn't click the link.
 

Niflmir

A modern nomad
Dec 18, 2006
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Leiden, the Netherlands
Pretty sure that the First Amendment doesn't protect people from academic repercussions for writing inappropriate things in an essay to their teacher. Did he honestly believe he could write anything in the essay? Would he think that death threats would have been equally as appropriate for his free form essay?

In this case, I imagine this was an overly aggressive take on what constitutes sexual harassment. I think North American sexual harassment law is too vague and extreme and she probably should have been prepared for something like this when she tells her students that they can write about anything that tickles their fancy. But given the state of sexual harassment law in the US, the student should not have gone there.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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Since she continually told him that there were no restrictions on what could be written in the day books and that she wanted "raw", I think she needs to take the stick out of her *** and so does the college. I hope he wins.
 

Dexter Sinister

Unspecified Specialist
Oct 1, 2004
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Regina, SK
Hard to have an opinion without reading the essay, it might have been over the top with a lot of prurient details about exactly what he wanted to do with her, or to her, though it certainly doesn't sound like it was. But if the teacher asked for "the raw stuff" and said they could write about anything at all, and in the normal course of events nobody but the student and the teacher would see the essay anyway, I don't think she'd have a case even if it WAS full of prurient details, that's the raw stuff she asked for. I have to vote with gerryh on this one.
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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I was feeling sympathy for him until I read the introduction.

Right off in the essay he says: "maybe when class is over and we're friends on Facebook" I think that moved the essay to a whole new level of "personal". He's also had a half a bottle of wine with dinner.

I think if he had kept it at the professional level he would have been fine, but he already knew he was crossing the line when he said: "I hope you like me and aren't offended."


Maybe he was just totally naive but if one is writing something for real you don't personalize it, you just write it. There are a myriad of different ways he could have written this and gotten away with it but personalizing it... nope.

She may well have felt unsafe or threatened and that is unacceptable.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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I was feeling sympathy for him until I read the introduction.

Right off in the essay he says: "maybe when class is over and we're friends on Facebook" I think that moved the essay to a whole new level of "personal". He's also had a half a bottle of wine with dinner.

I think if he had kept it at the professional level he would have been fine, but he already knew he was crossing the line when he said: "I hope you like me and aren't offended."


Maybe he was just totally naive but if one is writing something for real you don't personalize it, you just write it. There are a myriad of different ways he could have written this and gotten away with it but personalizing it... nope.

She may well have felt unsafe or threatened and that is unacceptable.


:roll: I'd say what I was thinking, but I'd be jumped on for being a misogynist.
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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:roll: I'd say what I was thinking, but I'd be jumped on for being a misogynist.
Nah go for it. If you can defend what he wrote to her before he wrote his essay I would love to hear it.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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Nah go for it. If you can defend what he wrote to her before he wrote his essay I would love to hear it.


He wrote what she asked for. She didn't put any restrictions on the writing and wanted it "raw". She got what she asked for and now, because the bitch can, she's got him turffed and banned from the college. Just for doing an assignment the way he was told to do it.
 

Niflmir

A modern nomad
Dec 18, 2006
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He wrote what she asked for. She didn't put any restrictions on the writing and wanted it "raw". She got what she asked for and now, because the bitch can, she's got him turffed and banned from the college. Just for doing an assignment the way he was told to do it.

To be fair, if what Sal said is correct (I am too lazy to read it myself) then what he did qualifies as sexual harassment, whether "She was asking for it," or not.

On the other hand, such a situation is precisely why sexual harassment law is a bit out of control.
 

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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To be fair, if what Sal said is correct (I am too lazy to read it myself) then what he did qualifies as sexual harassment, whether "She was asking for it," or not.

On the other hand, such a situation is precisely why sexual harassment law is a bit out of control.

What about as many were recently, academic freedom.
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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He wrote what she asked for. She didn't put any restrictions on the writing and wanted it "raw". She got what she asked for and now, because the bitch can, she's got him turffed and banned from the college. Just for doing an assignment the way he was told to do it.
Because he prefaced his writing BEFORE he wrote the essay. One does not do that when handing in a creative writing assignment. EVER. It wouldn't matter what it was about, you do not make personal remarks in your essay to your prof. but these remarks crossed over the line. I hope you like me. When we are friends on Facebook. I hope my wife doesn't read this. WTF? I'm going to draw little pictures of a wine bottle so you can know how much I have drank.

That is unprofessional at best.

Had he just written the piece I think they would have been hard pressed to throw him out. I can absolutely see why they would want him to take a course in sensitivity before returning.

The guy reads like a nutbag. And perhaps he is.
 

Goober

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Jan 23, 2009
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Because he prefaced his writing BEFORE he wrote the essay. One does not do that when handing in a creative writing assignment. EVER. It wouldn't matter what it was about, you do not make personal remarks in your essay to your prof. but these remarks crossed over the line. I hope you like me. When we are friends on Facebook. I hope my wife doesn't read this. WTF? I'm going to draw little pictures of a wine bottle so you can know how much I have drank.

That is unprofessional at best.

Had he just written the piece I think they would have been hard pressed to throw him out. I can absolutely see why they would want him to take a course in sensitivity before returning.

The guy reads like a nutbag. And perhaps he is.

Then he should have been graded on breaking that rule of writing. But it appears as part of a raw essay.
 

Cliffy

Standing Member
Nov 19, 2008
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There is a taboo in our culture about expressing what you truly feel toward the opposite sex. I feel that taboos restrict our ability to be authentic humans, to be our true selves. I find it rather odd that expressing our feelings is considered sexual harassment. But then I haven't read his essay. Where is it posted?
 

Sal

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Sep 29, 2007
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Then he should have been graded on breaking that rule of writing. But it appears as part of a raw essay.
No it doesn't. And it is not a rule of writing. You can not harass someone and then pretend it is fiction. You are still libel.

He begins it with her name. Dear Ms whatever, and then later asks if he can call her by her first name later.

How is that part of a story when you are already telling her you are going to let her know how much you are drinking as you are writing. It blurs the line between reality and fantasy.

There are ways he could have done it... he did not choose that approach.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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Because he prefaced his writing BEFORE he wrote the essay. One does not do that when handing in a creative writing assignment. EVER. It wouldn't matter what it was about, you do not make personal remarks in your essay to your prof. but these remarks crossed over the line. I hope you like me. When we are friends on Facebook. I hope my wife doesn't read this. WTF? I'm going to draw little pictures of a wine bottle so you can know how much I have drank.

That is unprofessional at best.

Had he just written the piece I think they would have been hard pressed to throw him out. I can absolutely see why they would want him to take a course in sensitivity before returning.

The guy reads like a nutbag. And perhaps he is.


It wasn't an "essay", it was a "journal".
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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It wasn't an "essay", it was a "journal".
well it says essay

Corlett’s attorney, Alari Adams described the essay as “a whimsical exaggeration of his attraction” to his instructor, notes the Sun-Times.

and if it were I would have zero problem with it...but he prefaced it.
 

PoliticalNick

The Troll Bashing Troll
Mar 8, 2011
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It would seem to me this teacher got what she asked for in a 'free writing' assignment with no prescribed limits. There is no actual evidence that the work was anything other than fiction and even if it is a non-fiction piece it is a journal of his private thoughts. As for the suggestion it was 'personal' I think the fact that he does not just talk of one teacher makes it quite clear that it was not intended to be taken as threatening to any individual.
Corlett compared his instructor to Ginger, the attractive starlet on the 1960s TV show “Gilligan’s Island.” He feared being distracted and said, “I’ll never learn a thing.” He said another teacher who was pregnant was “hot, and not just from baking the bun in her oven.”
College student sues; suspended over
Here is the preface to the journal. I don't see anything on here that would be considered intimidating or harassment in any way.
http://www.freep.com/assets/freep/pdf/C4185111214.PDF
One has to remember that we are not talking about some hormonal 18 year old here but a man of 57 who is married and most likely just freely writing what he is thinking (as he interpreted he was supposed to) with no malice or ill-will attached or intended.
 

JLM

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Nov 27, 2008
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Student who got kicked out of college over ‘Hot for Teacher’ essay sues for $2.2 million

The Daily Caller – 21 hours ago

A former student at Oakland University in the suburbs of Detroit is suing the school for over $2.2 million after he was kicked out in September 2011 for penning a salacious essay entitled “Hot for Teacher.”
Joseph Corlett, 57, a builder who now resides in Florida, filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Detroit, reports the Detroit Free Press. He claims the public university violated his First Amendment right to freedom of expression. He says he also suffered mental anguish and humiliation when he was forced to leave the school.
The suit names the school’s board of trustees and two high-ranking officials as defendants.
When Corlett wrote the essay, he was majoring in writing and rhetoric and working toward a bachelor’s degree. The class at issue was English 380: Advanced Critical Writing. The comely blond instructor was Pamela Mitzelfeld.
Corlett named his cursive composition “Hot for Teacher” after the sexually suggestive 1984 Van Halen song. Its undeniable thesis was that he was very attracted to Mitzelfeld.
“There is no way I’ll concentrate in class especially with that sexy little mole on her upper lip beckoning with every accented word,” the nontraditional student wrote, according to the Free Press. “And that smile.”
“I’ve had a few worries lately, the first that Lynn Anne, my wife, would read this. But now I don’t care. I suppose my fear is a good sign that I’m writing honestly,” he also wrote, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Corlett also compared Mitzelfeld to Ginger Grant, the movie star castaway on the 1960s sitcom “Gilligan’s Island.”
Several journal pages were attached to Corlett’s lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Mitzelfeld promised that students could write about anything. She hoped to get “the raw stuff,” says the suit.
Corlett’s attorney, Alari Adams described the essay as “a whimsical exaggeration of his attraction” to his instructor, notes the Sun-Times.
“In the end, he just ended up getting suspended from school for completing a homework assignment,” Adams told the Free Press.
Oakland University officials apparently saw the matter differently. According to Corlett, school police led him out of Mitzelfeld’s class a couple days after he turned in his journal containing the libertine essay. He was also told that he’d been suspended from school for the remainder of the semester.
In January 2012, a school committee found Corlett guilty of “intimidating behavior” because of his essay. He says he was banned from campus for a year. He would only be allowed back if he successfully completed sensitivity counseling.
An Oakland University representative had no comment, says the Free Press.

Yahoo! News Canada - Latest News & Headlines

On the one hand, suspension from a college, where everyone is supposed to be an adult and therefore the subject matter of any open creative writing assignment should not be grounds for a suspension. But on the other hand, I find the subject he chose to write about and what he did write creepy as hell.

I'm no expert on the subject but I'd say he can write whatever the hell he chooses as long as he doesn't identify anyone by name or any characteristic which leaves no doubt.