Professor who trashed a pro-life display put on leave

Via Michelle and Glenn:

Professor put on leave in wake of anti-abortion display's dismantling

A Northern Kentucky University professor has been put on leave and will retire at the end of the semester after admitting she told students to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus.

Sally Jacobsen, a professor in the literature and language department, will not return to the school, said James Votruba, the university president.

"I believe what she did was outside the scope of her employment," Votruba said Monday.

Jacobsen acknowledged leading graduate students on Wednesday to a grassy area near the University Center to rip up about 400 crosses. The crosses, temporarily erected a week earlier by a group called Northern Right to Life, were meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses.

It was unclear whether Jacobsen took part in dismantling the display.

That last sentence bugs me. There are pictures of this woman destroying the display! How much more clear can you get?

Anyway, I doubt she'll get fired and that's fine with me. I hope there are some serious legal ramifications for her. This sort of behavior would not be tolerated from anyone else, so it should not be tolerated from her. There needs to be a strong message sent to everyone - right, left and center - that vandalism is illegal and one cannot hide behind freedom of speech to violate someone else's freedom of speech.