“I may be an absolute twerp on Twitter, but that doesn’t matter,” Burnett said. “My colleagues and I still have the right to express our views.”
Burnett’s dust-up with the school is the latest episode in a battle over speech at Collin College. Many critics have accused the school of abandoning its duty to protect professors’ freedom of speech. Others are amazed: For a campus that’s attracted such bad press lately, it sure seems hellbent on making more.
Last week, the
Observer reported that Burnett has at least one enemy in high places: state Rep. Jeff Leach, a Plano Republican. A record published by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) showed the lawmaker had complained about Burnett in a text message to Collin College district President Neil Matkin.