What ever happened to freedom of speech. All faculty should oppose this restriction of their rights. If this professor is muzzled, then what will people want to muzzle next?

I am support academic freedom. I also have been surrounded by colleagues who use the classroom as a place to spout their religious beliefs and to discuss their personal religious experiences. The activity smacks of having an evangelical motive. The students, more often than not, are left with the perception that the faculty member is "chosen", "god's personal messenger", etc. They become totally devoted to the faculty member. I had one colleague tell students "God put it on my heart to give my only car to a needy family; now I am walking to work everyday." You can bet that he got excellent teaching evaluations that semester. How can you ding "God's messenger" on the teaching evaluations. If professors want to engage in this sort of work in the classroom, they should be teaching at a religious institution and in the discipline of religious studies, not a public state university in the behavioral sciences.

Whoa. This is very different from an invited extracurricular speaker. Such an event is not a course requirement and is not graded. No attendee would generally feel pressured to agree with such a speaker. And it is generally clear when speakers are presenting *opinions* (as opposed to general information).

Faculty are paid to teach. What other free speech would you have them be allowed to exercise on their employers' (and students') time? Profanity? Their life stories? Their favorite poems?

Why limit free speech to academic jobs? Perhaps the customer service rep you reach after a long wait on hold should be free to call you a stupid idiot without fear of being fired. Perhaps city bus drivers should be free to swear and make rude gestures at you as you cross the street. And so forth.

Sorry, if my teacher thinks I'm immoral or going to hell, that's his or her right to think so, but saying so doesn't belong in the course curriculum. (Unless, as Upallnight suggests, it's at a religious school.)

"Faculty are paid to teach. What other free speech would you have them be allowed to exercise on their employers' (and students') time? Profanity? Their life stories? Their favorite poems?"

I've had professors who did all three and much worse. I'd like more details on the context of the professor's slides. Sounds to me like the person was trying to illustrate alternate viewpoints. Some people can't handle that (i.e., "intolerance of others will not be tolerated.")

It strikes me too that there may be a couple of pieces missing here. And the ACLU's letter in the short deadline and the arrogant ultimatum-like tone in which it gives it makes it sound like they are hunting for a case. Must be donation / membership-solicitation time.

I do not like limiting the speech of any faculty member. Nevertheless it is incumbent upon faculty not to discuss personal beliefs in class. I may discuss controversial issues such as stem cells, homosexuality, abortion, etc. in my science classes. However it is done in the context of the science of it, not morality. My personal beliefs are irrelevant and should not be shared. To do so could make many of my students uncomfortable and would not facilitate learning.