A student journalist at Barry University was slapped with a suspension for helping conservative provocateur James O’Keefe film a video on campus in which a university employee is asked to help start a club to support ISIS.
In the video, released by O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, the student, known only as Laura, meets with a university administrator who advises her on creating a “Sympathetic Students in Support of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria” student group.
In the video, a school administrator tells Laura that “we’re not here to limit people and their clubs” after she talks of sending aid to fighters with the Islamic state. At another point in the video, a different administrator is supportive of creating a group to send humanitarian aid to the Islamic State, while only suggesting a modified name for the group because “technically, we’re at war with ISIS.” (RELATED: Barry University Student Takes Down Her Own School)
Now, school administrators have suspended Laura, saying that she created a hostile environment for school employees.
“In response to complaints filed by members of the University community on Wednesday, April 3, and received by my office this morning, April 6, 2015, your alleged actions were the cause root of disruption of the University community and the creation of a hostile environment for members of the University staff,” Maria Alvarez, Barry’s dean of students, said in an email that was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Because these alleged actions violate Barry University’s Code of Conduct, effective immediately you are placed on Interim Suspension from Barry University.”
The suspension means that Laura is barred from campus and can no longer attend class.
According to the Barry University Student Handbook, an interim suspension is only supposed to be used when a student is being investigated for a crime or “when a person constitutes a danger to the health, safety, or welfare of the University community and/or University property.” Based on the school’s email, it is unclear how Laura constituted a physical danger to anybody at the university.
Project Veritas condemned Laura’s punishment as unjust, as nothing she did was outside the law.
“In Florida, where Barry University is located and where the recordings took place, it is perfectly legal to record an oral communication if a person does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy,” the group said in a statement.
The Barry video is the second one released by Project Veritas purporting to show college administrators who are surprisingly open to students creating a club that would support the Islamic State. Another video released two week ago shows an administrator at Cornell University offering helpful advice on creating such a club. (RELATED: Cornell Dean Welcomes ISIS To Campus)
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