"Butler University has dropped [the] lawsuit against Jess Zimmerman. The student was accused of defaming the university in his blog 'TrueBU.' "

Indiana Daily Student says:

“He (Zimmerman) was critical of Butler and two administrators: Peter Alexander, dean of Butler’s College of Fine Arts, and Jamie Comstock, Butler’s provost.

He wrote things like 'Peter Alexander … is power-hungry and afraid of his own shadow. … He drives away talented administrators. He frustrates students within the departments. He hurts the ability of the school to recruit talented students and faculty members. He announces to the campus that the Butler Way, the ideals for which the school and everyone at it stands, mean nothing.'

The university has deemed statements like this to be libelous and in January filed a libel and defamation lawsuit against 'Soodo Nym,' the pseudonym used by Zimmerman on the anonymous blog.”

 

True, case against Zimmerman has been dropped but his struggle is not over yet. Couple of days back he sent me updates about this case and Butler University's actions subsequent to the case being dropped is really troubling.

Jess was "disciplined" by the University(for what? exercising his free speech rights?) and then had to post a bond of $10,000 to make sure that he gets a fair on campus disciplinary proceeding.  You can get more on this at Jess' blog.

 What is going on at Butler University is outrageous violation of Jess Zimmerman's First Amendment rights. Surprisingly, media outlets-limited outlets-who covered this case before the University dropped the lawsuit are showing no interest now. They have to know that the University is continuing its campaign against Jess Zimmerman.

Bhumika Ghimire