Appeals Court Hears Thesis
Disacknowledgments Case
A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Pasadena heard arguments April 9 in a dispute over a University of California/Santa Barbara master’s thesis that school officials barred from the university library because it included two pages of “disacknowledgments” criticizing the library, school administrators, and graduate faculty. Former graduate student Chris Brown appealed the case after a Los Angeles court ruled in favor of the university last April.
UC Attorney Christopher M. Patti argued that faculty members can fail or refuse to graduate students if they disagree with their views, according to the April 10 Pasadena Star-News. “That’s an odd idea of the role of a professor in a university,” Judge Stephen Reinhardt responded. “You have a very broad view of the First Amendment as it applies to professors.”
Patti said the university has no restrictions on criticizing people in a master’s thesis, “but in the acknowledgments section you’re going to conform to the professional norms.” Penelope Glass, one of Brown’s attorneys, argued that there is no current standard for thesis acknowledgments and professors should not disallow flippant comments “on a whim.”
Brown is seeking unspecified monetary damages, the Santa Barbara News-Press reported April 11. If the court overturns the case, Brown will be granted a jury trial. A decision is not expected for at least three months.
Posted May 6, 2002.
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