Why would a "threat assessment team" be checking offices in the theatre department? The Prof probably should consider that schools are twitchy when it comes to security and maybe choose a different Firefly quote.

I had been wanting to approach my boss about his delegating more and letting me in on more things, which I guess will happen by default now.

Well, that's a yay! How was your vacation, by the way?

Honestly, if I saw that on a professor's door, I'd be pretty freaked out no matter what the context. Also pretty sure that "his" office door is property of the university and his first amendment rights do not extend to putting posters on it, therefore, not censorship.

It's a fantastic quote, but if I were him, I probably wouldn't hang it on my door. On my web page or something, sure, but not on college property.

Also pretty sure that "his" office door is property of the university and his first amendment rights do not extend to putting posters on it, therefore, not censorship.

While true, that's probably the approach that has his back up. If campus security had talked to him about why it was a concern instead of taking it down and censuring him then perhaps it wouldn't be a story today.

Yeah, quotes in the first person about killing the reader--it has nothing to do with Firefly. That's just creepifying for the context. There are so many other FF quotes, even just from Mal. Why that one?

As a (former) University administrator, I would have called his department chair, said we were concerned, and asked if s/he would facilitate a meeting. At the meeting, I would have said "that's a great quote, but taken out of context, some people might see it as a threat. Is there a particular reason that you used it, and is there something else that might communicate your point?"

As much as I am an advocate for free speech, I think that the University was right to want to take some action. They just took all of the wrong ones.

They just took all of the wrong ones.

Based just on that article, I'm not sure we know that. The writing was very biased and alarmist - it wouldn't surprise me at all to learn it wasn't the whole story.

For some people, it's difficult to put themselves in another's shoes. Also, it's a rationalization to say, "those other people must have done something wrong to end up in that place." This happens often in rape trials as well. "Well, that couldn't happen to me" is a way your mind protects itself from something icky, uncomfortable, terrifying. Trying to walk people back from that thinking is difficult to impossible.

Yeah, I did a little musing about this on my blog post today WRT random violence that just happened in my little corner of the world.

This is true. Perhaps they did begin with the department administration and he refused.