SCIOTO COUNTY, Ohio— The Portsmouth-based college, Shawnee State University, will have to pay $400,000 to a professor who claimed he was unjustly punished by the University after he refused to call a transgender student female.
Reports say Nick Meriwether responded to a student’s question in 2018 by saying “Yes, sir.”
According to Fox News, the student filed a complaint which in turn launched an investigation into the incident. Shawnee State University gave Meriwether a written warning, attached to his personnel file.
The professor filed a lawsuit against the University claiming they had violated his First Amendment rights.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) represented Meriwether in the nearly 3-year-long court battle. According to their website, ADF “is the world’s largest legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. We defend your most cherished liberties in Congress, state legislatures, and courtrooms across the country—all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.”
Attorneys for Meriwether said the professor “had offered to use any name the student requested instead of titles and pronouns, but the university rejected that compromise, instead, forcing the professor to speak contrary to his religious convictions and philosophical beliefs.”
As part of the settlement, the Shawnee State University agreed that Meriwether would not be “mandated to use pronouns, including if a student requests pronouns that conflict with his or her biological sex.”
“This case forced us to defend what used to be a common belief—that nobody should be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep their job,” said ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham.
“Public universities should welcome intellectual and ideological diversity, where all students and professors can engage in meaningful discussions without compromising their core beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “Dr. Meriwether rightly defended his freedom to speak and stay silent, and not conform to the university’s demand for uniformity of thought. We commend the university for ultimately agreeing to do the right thing, in keeping with its reason for existence as a marketplace of ideas.”