Responding to Ms. Shirinian’s open letter of Jan. 18:
You are a public figure, a public employee and held a powerful position shaping young influential minds. From that inescapable pulpit, you revealed not only your vile position towards a significant sector of society but you moreover revealed such an inability or unwillingness to exercise rational thought and behavior, that you put your employer, the University of Tennessee and the State of Tennessee in a position that they had to evaluate your character and intellectual abilities to conduct your duties. Such scrutiny left the university no choice but to remove you from your position.
There are surely two competing legal theories here. You have presented your constitutional perspective. It will be interesting to see or hear the university’s position with respect to their legal duties pursuant to employment agreements, coupled with the university’s duties to create reasonable academic environments…