Shawnee State University Nicholas Meriwether, philosophy professor at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio.
Nicholas Meriwether is accusing his employer, Shawnee State University in southern Ohio, of violating his constitutional rights. It stemmed from a dispute Meriwether was having with one of his students. A transgender student had asked that Meriwether address her as a female.
Professor Meriwether reportedly did not go along with this request, and the student complained twice to the university. This prompted a Title IX investigation. Meriwether was accused of being discriminatory against the student, and was given a written reprimand.
Meriwether’s took the case to federal court. He filed a complaint against several administrators in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio. Meriwether argued that in issuing the rebuke, the school was violating both his freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Here’s what you need to know.
1. A Transgender Student Complained to School officials That Nicholas Meriwether Refused to Use Female Pronouns When Addressing Her In Class
Nicholas Meriwether teaches philosophy and religion and has been employed at Shawnee State for more than 20 years. According to the lawsuit, he typically addresses students using pronouns such as “sir” or “miss,” as a way of showing respect.
In January of 2018, a transgender student stayed after class to talk about how Meriwether should address her. She asked that Meriwether use female gender pronouns when calling on her during class. Meriwether stated that he was not sure he could do that, and accused the student of acting in a hostile manner toward him. He eventually said he would address the student using only her last name.
The student filed two complaints with the university about the situation. She filed a second one after she said that when Meriwether used her last name, he would include “mister” in the name. Meriwether claimed this was not intentional.
Shawnee State University opened a Title IX investigation. They came to the conclusion that Meriwether was violating the school anti-discrimination policy by failing to address the student using her preferred pronouns. A written rebuke was added to his school file.
Meriwether tried to negotiate with the school. Cincinnati.com reported that Meriwether addressed his concerns about religious liberty in written correspondence with trustees. “I am a Christian. As such, it is my sincerely held religious belief, based on the Bible’s teachings, that God created human beings as either male or female, that this gender is fixed in each person from the moment of conception, and that it cannot be changed.” The school did not accept his reasonings and went ahead with the official rebuke.
2. Nicholas Filed a Lawsuit in Federal Court Alleging That University Officials Had Violated His Civil Rights
Nicholas K. Meriwether filed a federal lawsuit against Shawnee State University trustees in the Southern District of Ohio. It was filed November 5, 2018. The case was assigned to Judge Susan J. Dlott.
According to court documents, Meriwether is alleging that his constitutional rights had been violated. The cause is summarized as, “Professor deprived of free speech and free exercise of religion at public university.”
Meriwether’s attorneys cite the first and fourteenth amendments, as well as the Civil Rights Act of 1871. That federal statute, which is identified as 42 U.S.C. § 1983, explains that a person is permitted to sue the government for violating civil rights. It also allows plaintiffs to sue organizations that derive their authority from the state government. Shawnee State University falls under that category since it is a public institution. (For further clarity, this statute has also been cited against police officers accused of using excessive force).
The document also states that Meriwether has requested a jury trial. He is asking for $1,000 in damages.
3. Shawnee State University Includes ‘Gender Identity’ in Its Non-Discrimination Policy; The School Also Stated That Officials Had Tried to Respect the Rights of Both the Professor & the Student
Shawnee State University does not specifically mention transgender students in its policies against discrimination and sexual harassment. But it does mention gender identity. The online handbook states that the college prohibits “discrimination against any individual because of race, color, genetic information, religion, age, disability, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status or military status.”
The university issued a statement on Friday, November 9 to address the federal case. It reads in full:
“A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of one of our professors involving issues including free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and compliance with Shawnee State’s non-discrimination policy. The case has become a topic of discussion and debate. While we aren’t able to correct or discuss specific claims while the case is in litigation, we feel compelled – based on questions and comments from faculty, students, alumni, and friends – to share our values as an open-access public institution.
Our mission at Shawnee State University is to prepare today’s students to succeed in tomorrow’s world. In support of that mission, we value freedom of expression by students, faculty, staff, and visitors on our campus — and provide an educational and work environment that is free from discrimination, retaliation, and harassment.
We expect that as this case progresses, and details come to light, it will become clear that we made decisions in an effort to both respect our faculty member’s deep-rooted religious beliefs and our student’s right to equal treatment in the classroom. We hope it will also become evident that our non-discrimination policy is not about advocating one belief over another, but of ensuring equal treatment for all on our campus regardless of race, color, genetic information, religion, age, disability, national origin, ancestry, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, or military status.”
4. Meriwether’s Team of Attorneys Includes Two Lawyers From the Alliance Defending Freedom
Nicholas Meriwether’s team of attorneys includes two from the Alliance Defending Freedom; Travis Barham and David Cortman. Court documents show that motions have been filed requesting that they be allowed to serve as co-counsels “pro hac vice,” which means “for this occasion only.” The request was necessary because neither Barham nor Cortman is licensed to practice in Ohio.
Both are senior counsels for the Alliance Defending Freedom. The group posted about the case to its blog, which reads in part, “No one should be forced to speak a message they disagree with. But apparently, Shawnee State University isn’t a fan of free speech. So, who is it exactly that is causing a ‘hostile environment’ on campus? And if universities are now telling professors which pronouns to use… where does it stop?”
The Alliance Defending Freedom promotes itself as a non-profit legal organization dedicates to defending Christian values. Its website claims that “Christians are being punished for living by their convictions” and that the group was created to defend “religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family.”
The group claims to have won 80 percent of the cases it takes on, including 54 wins at the Supreme Court. Two of the more recent well-known victories had to do with reproductive health and the right of business owners to deny service based on religious beliefs.
In the 2014 Burwell vs Hobby Lobby case, the justices analyzed whether corporations could refuse to cover contraception in employee health insurance plans. Hobby Lobby, a privately-owned arts and crafts chain store with more than 13,000 employees, was owned by the Green family. Their position was that the Affordable Care Act violated their religious liberties by requiring for-profit companies to provide coverage for preventative contraception, such as the birth control pill. The high court narrowly sided with Hobby Lobby. The vote was 5-4.
The Alliance Defending Freedom was also involved in the 2018 case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. The owner of the shop had refused to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. The couple filed a complaint, arguing that the shop owner had discriminated against them. The court sided with the baker in a 7-2 vote.
5. Nicholas Meriwether Teaches Religion & Philosophy
Nicholas Meriwether has been teaching religion and philosophy at Shawnee State University since 1996. On his public Facebook page, he has posted his own articles and shared others that indicate a conservative philosophy.
One example was an article he wrote in March of 2018 for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. The title is “Assessing Religious Militancy.” Meriwether debates in the article whether Islam can be considered a militant religion. He ultimately concludes that it is, but not because of terrorist actions in modern times. He writes that all of Christianity should not be harshly judged based on the actions of violent extremists (he references the Crusades as one example). Rather, Meriwether’s argument is that a religion should be judged based on the actions of its founding members. He explains that Jesus Christ was not a military leader, but that Muhammad led armies and conquered lands. You can read his argument here.
In August 2017, Professor Meriwether shared an article from conservative news site Breitbart in a show of support for author Robert Spencer. Spencer runs a website called “Jihad Watch” that accepts donations via Paypal. In 2017, the company briefly blocked the account amid criticism of it.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled Spencer an “anti-Muslin extremist” and labeled Jihad Watch as a “hate group.” We asked Spencer for a response to this criticism. He wrote back, “The SPLC is viciously biased, as it includes groups that do not call for or approve of violence on its ‘hate’ list, while omitting genuinely violent and hateful groups such as Antifa. I am no more ‘anti-Muslim’ than foes of Nazism during World War II were ‘anti-German.’ All my work has been in defense of the freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and equality of rights for all. If that is ‘extremist,’ then everyone should be an ‘extremist.'”
Back to Nicholas Meriwether: he wrote on Facebook that Paypal was wrong to block Spencer’s account. “As you can see from the article, PayPal has suspended Jihad Watch’s PayPal account for supposed hate speech. Spencer is a very tough critic of Islam, but Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins are very tough critics of Christianity, and I rather doubt that PayPal will cancel any form of payment to them or their organizations, should they have them. I have notified PayPal (via customer service) that I will cancel my 20+ years-old account, with thousands of transactions, if they do no reinstate Jihad Watch’s account, and would ask anyone reading this to do the same, and also to pass this post along. Freedom of speech is greatly endangered at this time in the US, and citizens have to respond forcefully and effectively.”
Paypal later lifted the ban on Jihad Watch and Spencer. Meriwether’s response was: “Evidently, the public response to PayPal’s suspension of Jihad Watch was enough for them to reinstate it. There’s a very serious lesson to be learned here: Tech companies that wish to stifle free speech have spines of jello when it comes to the ol’ pocketbook. Here’s to the price of freedom being eternal vigilance!”
Correction: An earlier version of this article contained a reference to Robert Spencer that was accompanied by a link to an article about Richard Spencer.
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