The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) released this short film — Over, Under or Through — on Christian DeJohn, a student at Temple University, who was relentlessly harassed by Temple’s faculty for his pro-military opinions. Not just a student of military history but a former soldier himself, DeJohn demonstrated the dogged and courageous attitude that is the soldier’s hallmark and refused to cave in to the university’s censorship. His story was picked up by media and eventually reached legal allies at FIRE, who took up his case. FIRE so utterly defeated Temple University in court that DeJohn’s case became a landmark decision for free speech on college campuses.
Per FIRE, “Christian DeJohn served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He was deployed to Bosnia after 9/11 and completed coursework overseas. He was on track to get his master’s degree in military history from Temple University. But when he returned from deployment, Temple professors and administrators decided they didn’t like his pro-military opinions. Tired of his outspokenness in class, they began a petty vendetta against him that culminated in a refusal to conduct an impartial review of DeJohn’s completed master’s thesis, which prevented him from ever receiving his degree. DeJohn’s subsequent lawsuit against Temple’s overbroad harassment policy, which was used to police his and other students’ speech, resulted in a landmark victory for free speech rights in higher education.”
DeJohn’s military history books are available on Amazon.