Free Republic

University rebukes employee for e-mail decrying lesbianism By Joyce Howard Price THE WASHINGTON TIMES July 31, 2005 A state university in New Jersey has reprimanded a student-employee for describing homosexuality as a "perversion" in a private e-mail that he sent a female professor, after she sent him an unsolicited announcement about a university event that promoted lesbian relationships. But Jihad Daniel, 63, who works for William Paterson University repairing computer hardware and takes graduate-level courses part time, said he was only expressing his Muslim religious beliefs when he responded to professor Arlene Holpp Scala, head of the university's women's studies...

The publicly funded William Paterson University (search) in New Jersey reprimanded Jihad Daniel for discrimination and sexual harassment. The 63-year-old Daniel, who is both an employee and a student at the university, is now at the center of a free speech controversy.

Worker's censure ignites debate Thursday, July 21, 2005 WAYNE - A William Paterson University employee censured for calling a film on lesbian relationships a "perversion" has sparked a debate over where free speech ends and discrimination begins.Jihad Daniel, 68, of Hackensack said he was simply expressing his Muslim religious beliefs in the e-mail to a WPU educator advertising the film. But university administrators contend he violated the university's anti-discrimination policy. And the e-mail's recipient said she felt the e-mail qualifies as harassment, not free speech.The dispute began in March when Professor Arlene Holpp Scala of the women's studies department sent...