English Associate Professor Barry Mauer was cleared Nov. 21 by the provost's office of charges that he harassed four students, who said his blog contained offensive comments about them, including that they were "insecure of their masculinity because of their small penises and their secret undergarments fetishes."
Mauer said the comments were meant to be "obviously ridiculous" and "satirical."
"They ... made it seem as though I was making statements of fact when it is clear that I did no such thing," Mauer told the Future.
Mauer also posted photos of the students on his blog, which was linked to his Pegasus Web site.
The students stated in their grievance that they felt their names and integrity were at stake, and included copies of 17 blog entries they found offensive.
The harassment grievance was filed after Mauer submitted a conduct referral against three of them for creating a Facebook group called Republican Establishment for the Brutal Eradication of Liberals, or R.E.B.E.L.
The students who filed the grievance against Mauer - Daniel Booth, Michael Broom, Shaun Lara and Edgar Robinson - are all active or inactive members of College Republicans.
Mauer's referral said the students had violated the destructive conduct and personal abuse codes of the Golden Rule, and that he felt his life was threatened because he was a liberal. The outcome of the charge is still pending.
Among entries the students included in their grievance was an Aug. 12 entry on Mauer's blog titled "An Idea for Daniel Booth and Michael Broom," in which Mauer offered excuses for the students to use someday in explaining why they created what he called a "pro-genocide" Facebook group.
Reasons included "alcoholism," "too much mercury in fish," and that the students were "dropped on their heads as babies."
"I used my blog to write about the threats they made but I never verbally harassed these students, nor did I ever 'write libel about them,'" Mauer told the Future via email.
Daniel Booth, former chairman of the College Republicans, began R.E.B.E.L. in late 2004 after seeing the same Facebook group at Florida State. The UCF group was closed in April of 2005.
"It was a silly group that was just for fun and had no power or standing … it was a senseless stupid and albeit distasteful group but we will NEVER apologize for its creation nor admit that we did something wrong," stated the students in their grievance against Mauer.
"We do not want to kill liberals or anyone for that matter. We don't support genocide or mass murder by any means," Broom told the Future.
The students also claimed that "An Idea for Daniel Booth and Michael Broom" had been changed from its original form.
The students supplied two versions of the entry in their grievance. In the second version, the comment about "small penises" was omitted.
Mauer defended his Aug. 12 posting by claiming that all of the quotes the students cited from his blog were taken out of context, and that he routinely edits his entries.
"It was always hypothetical, in both versions," Mauer told the Future. "The purpose of this blog post was to ask them again why they simply did not renounce violence and/or apologize for making threats."
The students also cited in their grievance a line from Mauer's blog calling Robinson the "apparent lover" of politician Tom Delay.
"It is an obviously satirical statement about the numerous photos of Robinson and the disgraced politician Tom Delay with their arms around each other that Robinson had posted to his Facebook page," Mauer said.
In defense of R.E.B.E.L., the students called their Facebook group satirical, citing examples of other humorous groups such as "Assassinate George Dubya Bush," "I Heart Crack Cocaine," and "I hate people who participate in class."
But Mauer disagrees.
"R.E.B.E.L., contrary to the claims of the R.E.B.E.L students, is in no way clearly satirical, especially since the officer titles they give themselves - 'Democrat Basher,' 'Democrat Terminator,' and 'Democrat Masher' - so clearly imply violence and, furthermore, imply that they take pleasure in violence against their perceived enemies," Mauer said.
John Schell, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, was one of the administrators to review the grievance filed by the students.
"I find no merit in the grievance, finding no violation of a rule, regulation, or procedure of the University or the Board of Trustees," said Schell in his letter to the students. "If a person or a group of people acts to provoke, then those individuals should be prepared to accept the consequences when that provocation succeeds."
Schell also stated that Mauer has free speech rights and is entitled to his own opinion, just like those of the students filing the grievance.
He also went on in his letter to "hope that good judgment prevails and that Dr. Mauer will sever all links between his online private expression of opinion and his faculty presence" at UCF.
Mauer has since removed his blog link from his Pegasus Web site, as well as all blog entries mentioning the students.
"This is an issue of free speech and First Amendment rights," said Schell. "[Mauer] didn't go past those limits that are protected by the First Amendment or free speech."
Mike Mendoza, former president of the College Democrats, said that while he disapproved of the R.E.B.E.L. group, he sided with the students on the matter.
"It is the responsibility of a professor to challenge students to think critically and engage in open and honest dialogue, not to bring political discourse down to the level of personal insults," Mendoza said. "How can someone so immature be trusted to teach? I think he should be fired."
The students said they are upset with UCF's decision regarding the harassment grievance and feel that "some precedent should be set."
They added that they have never asked for Mauer to lose his job.
"We should have as much of a voice," Robinson said. "It's not about us anymore. We want a precedent if this happens to anyone else. If we get precedent for students in the future, I'll be satisfied."
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