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[vohkinne]

I had an issue with a previous teacher, and I believe the issue may have affected the grades of at least a third of my class significantly. I filed a grievance against the teacher, but I was told that I must provide witnesses in order for my claim to be upheld (in fact school policy says that I do have the right to question witnesses in any grievance).

I printed flyers to put up on classrooms, asking that any student dissatisfied with their grade in that particular class contact me. The flyers were approved, stamped and signed by Riverside Community College's Student Activities department. I went to check on them today, 24 hours later, and they have all been removed. Student Activities says that faculty complained about the flyers, and said they were slanderous (yes, it's libel. They said "slander"). Literally, this is what the flyers said:

IMPORTANT

DID YOU HAVE KERRY HERR FOR ENGLISH 1A, SPRING 2010?

ARE YOU UNSATISFIED WITH YOUR
GRADE?

CONTACT ME FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THE GRADE YOU DESERVED!
---------------

I then provided an e-mail address and told people to tell their friends. Without prior knowledge of the situation, I believe that the flyer is worded vaguely enough to not damage this teacher's reputation. I think it is the bare minimum I could have said to single out the students that I needed to hear from without causing much of a ruckus.

The school WILL not allow me to post these flyers now, and effectively is removing and course of action that I have to find witnesses from that class.

Is there some sort of law being broken here like freedom of speech? I figure that a private school may be able to do something like this, but this is a community college.

The president of the college, Dr. Tom Harris, has already sided with faculty on the issue, and so has the school's board of trustees. There will be no justice unless I can find a legal way to force them to let me put those flyers up.

[hrafn]

There are other ways... newspapers, internet sites, etc...
Also, you may want to reword it. Sounds kind of accusatory, to me. You make it sound like anyone who didn't like their grade was automatically given a wrong or unfair grade, which may not be the case at all. I didn't like getting Cs or Ds, but did get them once in a while due to not doing the best I could.

[motega]

@hotwheel
1.What do you think my tuition and taxes pay for?
2.This is done regularly, actually. happened to 2 of my teachers last sem.
3.I didn't cause a prob...I uncovered one. Them trying to cover it back up is the prob now.
4.If the flyers aren't true, why am I not being punished for posting?

[sonny]

im not here to answer your questions, since you have not answered any of mine.

[boyce]

The college isn't required to let you post ANY DAMN THING. It's their building, and you could have been more mature about it than that. The fact that you ADMITTED that it's libel does not help your case.

Edit: Yes, prove how mature you are by calling me a goon. Well done. Additionally, "public school" does not mean "everyone's property." It just means that pretty much anyone is allowed to attend.

[han]

the school is not your property, you have to have their permission in order to put anything on their walls. and no they do not at all HAVE to allow you to do anything

edit: sorry i have to comment on your little ranting....

1. do you pay for anything that has to do with the building? the electricity? the land payment? the water bill? ANYTHING cept your tuition? if no, then its not your building.... it IS theirs, yes, they own it. they paid for it. they paid for the land to build it. its theirs.

2. no school, i dont care WHAT school it is, is going to waste their time contacting students about this, they have enough things to do than to worry about contacting students to ask them their problems.

3. your "job" is where you currently WORK AND being a student. your job is not to cause problems. which is what you did.

4. so what if they were approved before? they have the legal and moral right to take anything down that someone sees as offensive. you wanted to cause trouble. and you did. so just move on.

[tim]

There's a difference between asking individual peers if they had a problem with a teacher and posting public flyers implying that the teacher is unfair. It may not be considered libel from a legal perspective, but it wasn't appropriate either. They own the property even if it's a public school, it's up to them what can be on it and what can't.

[burdett]

They do not have to let you put them up - it's a community college, but it is private property.

And what you wrote was not vague - it's a pretty public and direct insult to a teacher about a personal matter between you and her.

You went about this in the incorrect way