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In fall of 2022, the Bangor Daily News then national and international media reported that graduate students at the University of Southern Maine walked out of my class and demanded that I be replaced as their instructor because I stated there are “two sexes with variations.” Three separate investigations into my conduct that day were initiated by a student who demanded that I be punished for my binary views on sex.
The Maine Human Rights Commission has now ruled that my statement was not discriminatory. The MHRC agreed that sex realism does not amount to discrimination and that educators must be permitted to express controversial ideas in the classroom.
I wasn’t free to speak to the media for two years while these investigations were ongoing, so I couldn’t defend my 40-year career as an educator or correct the misleading assumption that my entire class walked out (only a few did). I was subjected to a “restorative justice” event by university administrators, who also opened a separate section of my class with another instructor, as an option for my students (two-thirds chose to stay with me).
Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren warned in 1957 (Sweezy v. New Hampshire) that academic freedom must be protected so that students can “gain new maturity and understanding; otherwise, our civilization will stagnate and die.” If sharing information which students dislike results in arduous investigations and punitive measures for professors, we cannot provide a valid learning experience. I’m grateful that MHRC agreed and hope their decision will spare other instructors a similar ordeal.
Christy Hammer
Scarborough