I have a collection of poignant quotes that are randomly tagged to the end of my emails at work. Yesterday, my boss informed me that his boss had requested that I remove these quotes. It seems that she was disturbed by one of them.
Following is the text of the email sent to my boss:
On 5/28/03 4:32 PM, "Miller, Mary E"
"Ron, Jon has every right to air his political philosophy every minute of his own time. However, it is not appropriate to include on his official university emails. See the quote at the bottom of his message. Please relay this. Thanks."
And what was the quote at the bottom of my message that disturbed Ms. Miller so?
"Step by step, American liberty is disappearing. Americans are being ruled, regulated, restricted, licensed, registered, directed, checked, inspected, measured, numbered, counted, rated, stamped, censured, authorized, admonished, refused, prevented, drilled, indoctrinated, monopolized, extorted, robbed, hoaxed, fined, harassed, disarmed, dishonored, fleeced, exploited, assessed, and taxed to the point of suffocation and desperation." (Tom DeWeese)
Now there's an irony to crease your trousers.
Granted, it is a long-winded quote--in fact, it's among the longest quotes in my collection, because I couldn't find a satisfactory way to edit the thing; however, the length of the quote is not what bothered Ms. Miller, but rather something about its content. Is the quote really a "political philosophy" as Ms. Miller contends? Does TAMU policy prohibit a TAMU employee from expressing a political philosophy (or any other philosophy, for that matter) in an email signature?
According to TAMU System Policy 33.01 (Privileges as a Citizen), part 3: "System employees are free to express their opinions on any matter, so long as such opinions are not offered as opinions of the System." System Policy 33.01.01 (Political Campaign Events on Property Under the Control of The Texas A&M University System) says that a TAMU employee is "required to remain neutral in partisan political activities" but that "Individual faculty, staff, and students continue to enjoy all constitutional rights and privileges concerning freedom of speech and participation in political events, subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions." It goes on to say, "No TAMUS component may endorse, recommend, or otherwise indicate partisan political support for any candidate for an elected office, or for any current officeholder of such an office." However, "This does not prohibit such components from expressing agreement with actions, policies, or other official acts of officeholders."
The Tom DeWeese quote contains no reference to any politician or political party, much less an endorsement or recommendation for a candidate. It could be construed to express agreement with non-specific policies of non-specific officeholders, but even that is a stretch. Several of the quotes in my collection were made by politicians like Jefferson, Madison, Washington, and the like, but I daresay those gentlemen are no longer personally active in politics (except, perhaps, as heavenly spectators). In other words, the quote does not violate the TAMUS policies on political expression by employees. According to TAMU System Policy, this case really hinges upon whether or not random quotes tagged onto an employee's email signature are "offered as opinions of the System." The fact that the quote is clearly attributed to its author, and is placed after the body of the message and even below the signature information, makes it reasonably clear that the quote is not an opinion of the System; however, I am in the process of obtaining the System's opinion on this from the TAMU Office of General Counsel.
I sincerely hope that Ms. Miller's concerns hinge upon the "opinion of the System" issue. If that is not the case, then I would have to conclude that the attitude of at least one administrator at Texas A&M University toward their employees is akin to a feudal lord condescending to allow the peons to toil in his fields, provided they behave themselves and don't make too much noise or smell. In that case, perhaps those administrators need to consider anew the fact that they are employed by the citizens of Texas, of which I am one, and they do not have the power or the authority to violate the natural rights of those to whom they are responsible.