The widely read Chronicle of Higher Education shares an account of a private religious university’s dismissal of two student resident assistants (RAs) for continuing to include pronouns in their email signature blocks after the university adopted a contrary policy of simple signature blocks for all
employees. University officials met with both student employees requesting they remove the pronoun designations. The university later terminated the employment of both students, according to the students, due to their reluctance or refusal to comply.
Universities and other employers may, to avoid public disputes and internal divisions, prefer to keep private the grounds for their decisions about their expressed rules and policies. The private religious university in this story initially tried to do so while trying through meetings and requests to keep the
student employees on board. But doing so can be impossible in a society sharply divided on public issues that inevitably impact the workplace and strongly held commitments and beliefs.
Pronoun preferences in emails are an example. Some feel compelled to make pronoun declarations out of their social stances or religious beliefs, while others see pronoun declarations as contrary to their equally firmly held social stances or religious beliefs. Some employers might prefer to keep the debate out of the workplace, just as some schools might prefer to keep the debate from dividing the campus or classrooms. But doing so just isn’t always or entirely possible, as the above story clearly indicates. College and university employees can face these special issues.
Employers have some room within today’s regulatory thicket to set uniform, non-discriminatory employment terms to promote the operation of their business. Uniform or dress requirements for airline attendants or fast-food workers, prohibiting displaying potentially divisive or distracting social or political messages, may be permissible depending on the degree and circumstances. Limiting email signature blocks to identifying contact information and not displaying political or other messages may also be permissible, depending on the circumstances. The same can be true for college and university employers when promoting and preserving an orderly educational environment.
That right and opportunity of a college or university employer to limit employee speech, including email signature blocks of student resident assistants, can be significantly greater for private schools over public institutions. The First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit state governments from restricting free speech and other rights. But constitutional rights don’t extend so readily to private institutions. A private religious school like the one in this story can claim greater liberty to hold its employees to the religious school’s commitments without violating those employees’ constitutional rights. If you work there, then you just might have to conform to your private school employer’s rules, including rules that reflect the private school’s religious commitments.
If you face college or university employment termination or student discipline related to First Amendment rights or other civil rights, you need skilled and experienced attorney representation to advise and represent you as to those rights. Retain the Lento Law Group and premier national education law attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento and his Education Law Team for the necessary assistance. Call