Michigan
Michigan prof who made vulgar video quit, settles for $95K
DETROIT (AP) — A Michigan professor who was suspended in January for making a profanity-filled video to welcome college students settled his authorized dispute with a college by accepting $95,000 and agreeing to a three-year gag order.
As a part of the deal, Barry Mehler retired from Ferris State College reasonably than face doable termination after a decide refused to reinstate him final spring, in keeping with a March doc launched to The Related Press beneath a public information request.
Mehler, 75, and the college agreed to not criticize one another. If the professor speaks out over the subsequent three years, he should pay $60,000.
Mehler, who taught historical past at Ferris State for many years, made headlines in January when the college positioned him on paid go away in response to a provocative 14-minute video, which obtained greater than 500,000 views on YouTube.
He used profanities and made a sexual reference as he rambled on about his attendance coverage, grades, plagiarism and COVID-19.
Mehler was upset with the college over its refusal to require COVID-19 vaccinations. He known as college students “vectors of illness” and mentioned they didn’t must attend class in individual.
“I cannot take questions in school as a result of I’m sporting this … helmet with a purpose to keep alive,” he mentioned, a reference to an astronaut-style helmet with air filters.
David Eisler, who was Ferris State president on the time, mentioned he was “shocked and appalled.”
Mehler mentioned his free speech rights have been violated when he was suspended.
“The entire thought was to get their juices flowing,” Mehler mentioned in January, referring to the video and his college students. “However in addition they knew their grade was not based mostly on predestination. That was merely humorous.”
Ferris State is in Large Rapids, 155 miles (250 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
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