Posted on 08/09/2021 8:19:31 AM PDT by george76
Two women’s volleyball coaches at the University of Oklahoma argue in a legal motion that they have the right to discipline players for their political beliefs.
Player Kylee McLaughlin sued coaches Lindsey and Kyle Walton along with the OU Board of Regents earlier this year, alleging “she had been excluded from the team […] over her politically conservative views.”
The OU Daily reported that McLaughlin, the OU team captain and first team All-Big 12 selection in 2018 and 2019, had made comments that “at least one” of her teammates considered “racist” following a team viewing of the Netflix documentary “13th.”
McLaughlin was told to attend a follow-up discussion on the issue — mass incarceration of black Americans — which she did.
Later, after McLaughlin had tweeted out her disagreement (a skull and crossbones and laughing clown emojis) at the University of Texas’s possible dropping of its school song “The Eyes of Texas,” Lindsey Walton “urg[ed] her to delete [the] tweet.” In a subsequent hour-long phone conversation, she told McLaughlin “I can’t save you when you get into the real world when you leave here.”
Kyle Walton allegedly told McLaughlin “[I’m] not sure I can coach you anymore.” McLaughlin did end up apologizing to U. Texas’s volleyball players and head coach for her tweet.
But McLaughlin was now “branded as a racist and homophobe” by her coaches and teammates, according to her lawsuit. She was given the option of transferring schools, keeping her scholarship as a student, or “redshirting for the season and practicing separately without her teammates throughout the year.”
According to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, in their motion to dismiss the Waltons argue that even though they were the ones who injected politics into the team, they have the right to discipline those with differing views — in the name of “team unity.”
“While Plaintiff was free to make bigoted statements, she was not free from the consequences of how her teammates perceived those statements,” the Waltons’ motion states. “The First Amendment cannot force her teammates to trust Plaintiff or desire to play with her. Consequently, the Complaint makes clear that Coach Walton was within her rights to cultivate a winning ‘team atmosphere by ensuring the players that ‘trust’ each other would be on the court.”
In a nutshell: At a public university they can force players into volleyball-irrelevant political discussions … and to preserve “team unity” all players must agree with them.
Incredibly, the Waltons also contend restricting McLaughlin’s First Amendment rights in political discussions (again, introduced by them) is akin to enforcing rules during an actual volleyball match: “As it relates to on court conduct, for example, students are not at liberty to question the decisions of the coach via a First Amendment claim.”
The Board of Regents also filed a motion to dismiss McLaughlin’s suit, claiming it is an “’inimical rant’ related to ‘difficult conversations that followed the murder of George Floyd and the nationwide discussions of social injustice and inequality in America.’”
I’m OK. I have always loved Big Brother.
Radical,Lesbians.
That’s not being very diverse or tolerant… how odd …
BS!
If they’re on the field - yeah. But not on their own tweets.
Once again - the elites are showing their colors. Totalitarian oppression.
Fight like hell.
Silly. Diversity Way and Tolerance Blvd are one way streets. Guess who’s driving the wrong way. :-}
I recall the time when who you voted for wasn’t broadcasted.
“mass incarceration of black Americans”
Is that like the current Mass Incarceration of January 6th Protestors?
That’s going to help recruiting
“Radical,Lesbians”
No doubt. They are the most emotional, least logical, and (ultimately) most violent of their mosaic of misfits.
At a public university they can force players into volleyball-irrelevant political discussions … and to preserve “team unity” all players must agree with them.
—
This is called “diversity”.
The idea of mass incarceration of blacks …
What progressives essentially demand, and thanks to Pink Floyd: “You cannot discuss race unless you agree to use our Marxist comprehension of race! How can you discuss race unless you reference our Marxist comprehension?!?”
What the case actually is: incarceration of individuals convicted criminals (people who did crimes and received due process) and who just happen to be black.
The University of Oklahoma and the Coaches Waltons are going to lose; BIG. Oklahoma would have been better off firing the coaches for cause.
Conservative parents of great high school players would encourage their daughters to sign with Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma and the Coaches Waltons are going to lose; BIG. Oklahoma would have been better off firing the coaches for cause.
Conservative parents of great high school players would encourage their daughters to sign with Oklahoma.
A public government university is violating adult free speech. What could go wrong?
‘Radical,Lesbians.’
women’s sports are infused with this type of groupthink, and it continues to infect the rest of our culture...some of the most powerful cohorts of our federal government are radical female blocs, (AOC and that bunch), and this thinking forms their principles, such as they are...
when I hear people carping that the world would be better if women ran it, I smile and shake my head; so much delusion, so little time...
Glad this only happens in BLUE STATES. I’d hate to think of how far gone things are if it started happening in red states.
This is happening in Oklahoma, possibly the most conservative state in the country. It is time for citizens to demand that the Legislature clean OU and OSU of leftists. Boycott Sooner and Cowboy college athletics. Let the stadiums be empty.
Approximately Six percent of the entire Population are part of a certain Demographic who are responsible for over half the Violent Crimes in this Country.
Most of those same Six Percent are Males.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.