Identity of Speakers
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Robert Dailyda
Student
OtherRobert Dailyda is a doctoral student at Stockton University.
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Classroom
Social media
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Incident Political Orientation:
Right-of-spectrum -
Incident Responses:
University investigation not issuing in sanctions
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- No protest Occured
- Did not involve Speech Codes
Summary
Robert Dailyda is a doctoral student in education at Stockton University. On July 1, 2020, Dailyda used a photograph of former President Trump as his Zoom background for his virtual class, prompting complaints from other students in a private GroupMe chat after class. He subsequently took to Facebook to defend his political views, saying that “I’m ready to fight to the death for our country and against those that want to take it down.” The university administration claimed that students found the Zoom background, comments in the GroupMe chat, and Facebook post “offensive, threatening, and concerning.”
On July 16, 2020, Stockton charged Dailyda with violating the code of conduct for disruptive behavior, harassment, creating a hostile environment, causing harm, and cyberbullying. At a pre-hearing interview on July 31, an administrator listed potential sanctions for the charges, including suspension, a fine, community service project, social justice workshop, and decision making workshop. On August 7, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education sent a letter to Stockton that “remind[ed] Stockton administrators that the First Amendment protects offensive expression and that Dailyda’s expression d[id] not constitute discriminatory harassment.” On August 19, Stockton dropped all charges against Dailyda.
