No amount of brain research . . . The more we look at the brain, the further away we are from the complex subject of human ethics . . . The road to decency, to civilized society, is a difficult one. It is a road of hard work, discipline, awareness of ethical values, education, and frustrations. Let us not delude ourselves with the opium of mental illness as an explanation.
Faculty members have significant authority to manage the classroom environment.
They may set and enforce reasonable rules of classroom decorum, including prohibitions against speaking without being called upon, using cell-phones, or engaging in any other disruptive conduct. Indeed, the First Amendment right to freedom of expression of political, social, religious, and other such views may be most precious in an educational setting. However, as in the instant case, where the expression appears to have no intellectual content or even discernable purpose, and amounts to nothing more than expression of a personal proclivity designed to disrupt the educational process, such expression is not protected and does violence to the spirit and purpose of the First Amendment. The rights afforded to students to freely express their ideas and views without fear of administrative reprisal, must be balanced against the compelling interest of the academicians to educate in an environment that is free of purposeless distractions and is conducive to teaching. Under the facts of this case, the balance clearly weighs in favor of the University.