An Oklahoma geology professor is in serious hot water for expressing his right to free speech. Because he did so he now has to go to reeducation camp (sensitivity training). This was documented below. It had the makings of Urban legend but was apparently documented in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, a respected journal covering higher ed had a column on this - in their March 10, 2000 online issue. (I've attached a copy below.) They include comments from the university and from Prof. Deming - to me this is evidence that this really happened. By the way, there is a David Deming listed at Univ. of Oklahoma in the Geology/geophysics dept where he is an Assoc. Professor.
A Gun Is Like a ... What?
By LEO REISBERG
David Deming apparently thinks a singular feature of the female anatomy is akin to a gun, and for that he's being pilloried at the University of Oklahoma.
The tenured geology professor is under fire for comparing a handgun to a vagina in a letter last month to the student newspaper. A gun owner and member of the National Rifle Association, he was responding to a column that had run in The Oklahoma Daily, advocating stricter gun-control laws.
In the column, which had first appeared in the Yale Daily News, Joni Kletter, a senior at Yale University, wrote that "easy access to a handgun allows everyone in this country, including criminals, youth and the mentally disabled, to quickly and easily kill as many random people as they want."
Mr. Deming's response? "I just want to point out that Kletter's 'easy access' to a vagina enables her to 'quickly and easily' have sex with 'as many random people' as she wants. Her possession of an unregistered vagina also equips her to work as a prostitute and spread venereal diseases. Let's hope Kletter is as responsible with her equipment as most gun owners are with theirs."
Letters condemning the comments have poured in to the newspaper.
And Becky A. Hebert, an adjunct associate professor of human relations, has filed a sexual-harassment complaint with the university against her colleague. She wants the university to reprimand Mr. Deming and to require him to receive sensitivity training on women's issues. She also wants a public apology.
"For a professor to resort to using an individual's human sexuality as a means of entering into a debate with her is unacceptable," she says. (Ms. Kletter was unavailable for comment.)
The university is choosing its words carefully. A spokeswoman would say only that the university is reviewing the complaints.
Mr. Deming says he doesn't regret writing the letter, noting that he has received telephone calls from many people who support his comments.
"Part of what prompted me to write that letter is a very vile rhetoric that's been directed at gun owners," he says. As for his critics, he adds, they have "no more respect for the First Amendment than they do the Second."