Pricey Pronouns: Shawnee State U. to Pay Prof $400K After Punishing Him for Failing to Call a Male Student ‘She’

Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio, will pay $400,000 in damages and attorney fees after punishing a professor who refused to refer to a male student as a female. The settlement comes after a judge previously ruled that the university’s treatment of professor Nick Meriwether violated his First Amendment rights.

Last year, the Sixth Circuit federal appeals court unanimously ruled that Shawnee State University violated professor Nick Meriwether’s First Amendment rights by ordering him to use students’ preferred pronouns.

Now, the professor has won nearly half a nearly half-million-dollar settlement, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).

ADF wrote in their press release on the settlement:

As part of the settlement, the university has agreed that Meriwether has the right to choose when to use, or avoid using, titles or pronouns when referring to or addressing students. Significantly, the university agreed Meriwether will never be mandated to use pronouns, including if a student requests pronouns that conflict with his or her biological sex.

“This case forced us to defend what used to be a common belief—that nobody should be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep their job,” said ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham. “Dr. Meriwether went out of his way to accommodate his students and treat them all with dignity and respect, yet his university punished him because he wouldn’t endorse an ideology that he believes is false. We’re pleased to see the university recognize that the First Amendment guarantees Dr. Meriwether—and every other American—the right to speak and act in a manner consistent with one’s faith and convictions.”

“Public universities should welcome intellectual and ideological diversity, where all students and professors can engage in meaningful discussions without compromising their core beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “Dr. Meriwether rightly defended his freedom to speak and stay silent, and not conform to the university’s demand for uniformity of thought. We commend the university for ultimately agreeing to do the right thing, in keeping with its reason for existence as a marketplace of ideas.”

In January 2018, Meriwether — a “devout Christian” who has been a fixture at the university for 25 years — called a biological male student “sir” during class. At the time, the professor said he was not aware his student preferred female pronouns.

After class, the student approached Meriwether and “demanded” that the professor refer to him “as a woman,” and use “feminine titles and pronouns.” This was the first time Meriwether had heard of the student’s preferred pronouns.

The professor reacted by explaining that he wasn’t sure he could comply with the student’s demand, as he holds religious beliefs that prevent him from “communicating messages about gender identity that he believes are false,” the Cincinnati-based appeals court explained.

Meriwether did, however, offer to call the student by any name requested, but the student declined.

Instead, the student became belligerent, circling around Meriwether at first, and then approaching him in a threatening manner, proclaiming, “I guess this means I can call you a cunt.”

The student then filed a complaint with the university, which reacted by launching an investigation that eventually determined Meriwether had “created a hostile environment” because he would not use his preferred pronouns.

Shawnee State’s Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Roberta Milliken then ordered Meriwether to start using female pronouns when addressing the student — or else risk violating the university’s policy.

Shawnee State had also issued the professor a written warning.

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