Professor suspended for allegedly forcing students to sign pledge to vote for Obama

[Atreus21]

...and for all democrats on the ticket.

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4364

A college professor has been placed on leave after she allegedly forced her class to sign a pledge to vote for President Obama in the upcoming elections.

Early last week Professor Sharon Sweet at Brevard Community College (BCC) allegedly told students to sign a pledge that reads: “I pledge to vote for President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.”


A college professor has been placed on leave after she allegedly forced her class to sign a pledge to vote for President Obama in the 2012 elections.

The pledge was printed off of GottaVote.org, a website funded by the Obama campaign.

University administrators said they learned about the incident late Thursday afternoon and launched an investigation, after they received a phone call from a concerned parent.

“Based on the allegations, Associate Professor Sweet has requested, and been granted, a leave of absence without pay effective immediately,” reads a statement put out by John Glisch, Associate Vice President for Communications at BCC.

“The college will continue its investigation into the matter, which will include interviews with all students in her class,” continues the statement.

Sweet’s actions may have also violated Florida’s election laws.

Section 104.31, of Title IX in chapter 104, states that “no officer or employee of the state... shall... use his or her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with an election or nomination of officer or influencing another person’s vote or affecting the result thereof.”

Why is it when laws are cited, it's almost ALWAYS somehow under title nine?

Anyhoo, you think she'll be convicted for this?

 

[SheHateMe]

Anyhoo, you think she'll be convicted for this?

No. I don't think she should be anyway.

As a Obama voter, I think what she did was really stupid. Sometimes, Professors go on Power/Ego trips. She learned her lesson I suppose, leave without pay? Yikes!

 

[Atreus21]

No. I don't think she should be anyway.

As a Obama voter, I think what she did was really stupid. Sometimes, Professors go on Power/Ego trips. She learned her lesson I suppose, leave without pay? Yikes!

You think what she did was stupid. Do you think what she did was wrong?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I'll say it. It was wrong and she should bear the full brunt for it. It actually disgusts me to see someone abuse their position in such ways.

 

[hal2kilo]

Anyhoo, you think she'll be convicted for this?

No. She should be fired though.

Stupid is as stupid does.

 

[yllus]

I don't mean to be rude, but are instructors at community colleges even actually professors?

 

[Todd33]

Churches do far worse every election and it is not one person, it is hundreds of them, all tax exempt. But distractions are nice, gives something for Rush and Hannity to get upset about. I'm sure they can take this one case and generalize into a nationwide issue, then we can get new suppression laws from it.

 

[werepossum]

I'll say it. It was wrong and she should bear the full brunt for it. It actually disgusts me to see someone abuse their position in such ways.

This.

 

[HomerJS]

Completely inappropriate.
.
Not quite as inappropriate as the mine boss who forced employees to take day off and attend Romney rally

 

[cybrsage]

Churches do far worse every election and it is not one person, it is hundreds of them, all tax exempt. But distractions are nice, gives something for Rush and Hannity to get upset about. I'm sure they can take this one case and generalize into a nationwide issue, then we can get new suppression laws from it.

Failed deflection is fail.

Can you tell us if you think the teacher did anything wrong and, if you think the teacher did, should the teacher be punished for doing it?

 

[preslove]

You guys actually believe this wingnut website? Post a thread when this is actually confirmed. All we have now is some 'citizen' making an accusation.

 

[Todd33]

Failed deflection is fail.

Can you tell us if you think the teacher did anything wrong and, if you think the teacher did, should the teacher be punished for doing it?

Of course it was wrong, was there any doubt? I just find it amusing that the right find these outliers that reinforce their world view so they can all get together and bitch about non-existent problems while real issues get ignored.

What was it last week, some assistant principle at some middle school called PB&J racists? How many hours were spent on the right bitching about such a non-story?

Will she get in trouble? Probably a slap on the wrist, no harm was done. She was trying to influence adults, not molest children.

 

[woolfe9999]

IF this is actually true, THEN of course she should be terminated for this as it's totally unacceptable.

 

[cybrsage]

Of course it was wrong, was there any doubt?

Lots of it, since you deflected away onto something else and did not bother to actually address the thread topic in any way.

Good to see you agree she should not have done it. Now, do you think she SHOULD be punished for violating the law and attempting to engineer an election through abuse of her position?

 

[Slick5150]

The first sign the story is bunk (or at least incredibly shoddily reported by this "news" site) is that the incident happened at "Brevard Community College" yet they cite "University officials."

A community college is not a university.

 

[pauldun170]

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=1034158
Should probably ignore the ratings given today but she's a math professor.

How the hell is an assistant Math professor at a community college going to force anyone to sign a pledge to vote for someone?

Oh wait...there's a reason why its refereed to as "Alleged"

I'm going to assume the articles below are more accurate.
"asking her students to support President Barack Obama during her classes." and handing out campaign material....


http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/27...llegedly-urged-her-students-to-vote-for-Obama
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/09/1...n-leave-for-asking-student-to-vote-for-obama/

 

[MovingTarget]

...and for all democrats on the ticket.

http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=4364



Why is it when laws are cited, it's almost ALWAYS somehow under title nine?

Anyhoo, you think she'll be convicted for this?

Title IX of Florida's laws. I know Title IX of the federal code is a big deal, but I haven't seen state law quoted as often here.

I'll say it. It was wrong and she should bear the full brunt for it. It actually disgusts me to see someone abuse their position in such ways.

This. It is one thing to express an opinion, and another to try and force/coerce it on others.

I don't mean to be rude, but are instructors at community colleges even actually professors?

Yes, they are. Most have Masters degrees at minimum. Plenty of PhD's too. Community colleges take the ones that prefer to teach rather than do research. You may be thinking of their vocational instructors though, which are much different in terms of requirements.

 

[chucky2]

I don't mean to be rude, but are instructors at community colleges even actually professors?

It really depends, it's on a case by case basis. I went to College of DuPage and went into the Associate of Applied Science (AAS) track; aside: Don't do this, do AA or AS instead, much more transferable as a degree. Anyways, while I was there, I had mainly masters or doctorate teachers, who were generally players at their respective companies (Lucent, Motorola, etc. etc....proximity to their large offices in Chicago was lucky for CoD).

Our classes generally were designed by these folks and we were really lucky to cut out the BS waste you'd get at a normal place and instead they'd craft the course to actually teach us worthwhile content.

It was actually a downer in teacher quality when I went to my 4 year (but my 4 year was a weak 4 year, so that's no surprise).

Chuck

 

[cybrsage]

Here is the same report on the local news:

http://www.baynews9.com/content/new...n/2012/9/17/bcc_professor_obama_.html?cid=rss

Here is another local news station which says she was placed on unpaid leave while they are investigating her actions.

A professor at Brevard Community College has been placed on leave and faces punishment after the school received complaints of politically-based ethics violations.
Sharon Sweet, a mathematics instructor at the college, has been accused of soliciting support for President Barack Obama during her classes.

School leaders said they received a call from a concerned parent on Thursday.
Sweet reportedly distributed voter pledge cards in class, urging voters to support President Obama and other Democratic candidates.

They said they have also begun taking steps to remind staff of the school's political activity policy, which states no college employee can solicit support for a political candidate during regular work hours or on college property.

Sweet has been a professor at Brevard Community College for five years.
Based on the allegations, school leaders said Sweet requested and was granted a leave of absence without pay.
As part of the ongoing investigation, Brevard Community College said it will interview all of the more than 100 students that Sweet taught to try and determine how long the political endorsements have been happening.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/Br...nce/-/1637132/16644060/-/wq0v0fz/-/index.html

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Stupid and wrong. What a moron.

 

[waggy]

I don't mean to be rude, but are instructors at community colleges even actually professors?

from what i understand depends on what they teach. A good friend of mine taught high school for years then at teh local CC. she has a PHD. she said the ones doing math, science etc are Proffesors. Some classes such as agriculture, mechanic etc they are not.

though again that may not be at all CC's.

 

[Rainsford]

Stupid and wrong. What a moron.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Says here that the college is owned by people of Brevard County. That would make her an employee of the county, not the state.

Now, looking at the law, it does say also say county. Perhaps these conservatard sites should have put that in.

 

[soundforbjt]

Is this any different than the values conference or whatever it's called this weekend where speakers said to religious leaders to ignore federal tax laws and instruct their congregations to vote for Romney?

 

[DCal430]

Says here that the college is owned by people of Brevard County. That would make her an employee of the county, not the state.

Now, looking at the law, it does say also say county. Perhaps these conservatard sites should have put that in.

You really should check your facts before you speak. The college is controlled by the state and the governor appoints the members of the board. The employees are considered state employees. They are state employees who serve the people of brevard county.