A student has been reinstated by State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo after being suspended from the school’s education program after he expressed his views on biology on social media, stating “a man is a man,” and “a woman is a woman.”
Education student Owen Stevens states that SUNY-Geneseo has reinstated him, allowing him to continue his field teaching programs, according to a report by Daily Wire.
The issue began last November, after classmates saw Stevens’ Instagram videos and complained.
In one video, the student said, in part, “a man is a man, a woman is a woman. A man is not a woman, and a woman is not a man,” said Stevens in one of the videos in question. “A man cannot become a woman, and a woman cannot become a man.”
“I will not be silenced by an ideologically driven anti-truth administration. They are trying to discredit basic dissent from conservatives. Absolutely unreal,” wrote Stevens in an Instagram caption, which included a purported screenshot of a memo sent to the campus community from the office of the university’s president, which used the situation as an opportunity to virtue signal.
“I was made aware of a current student’s Instagram posts pertaining to transgender people,” the office of the university president wrote. “I imagine that reading these sentiments from a member of the of the Geneseo community raises apprehension of trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming students and their allies.”
“I want to take this opportunity to publicly restate my deep personal commitment to promoting social justice,” the office added.
Stevens — who is studying to become a teacher — was then suspended from his teaching program, and was told that his social media posts call into question his ability to “maintain a classroom environment protecting the mental and emotional well-being of all of [his] students.”
The student was told that he would need to delete his Instagram videos, tone down his social media presence, and attend school-sanctioned training in order to resume his field teaching programs.
“You continue to maintain, ‘I do not recognize the gender that they claim to be if they are not biologically that gender,'” lamented the Dean of the School of Education in an email to Stevens. “This public position is in conflict with the Dignity for All Students Act requiring teachers to maintain a classroom environment protecting the mental and emotional well-being of all students.”
But now, according to documents obtained Daily Wire, the university has changed its requirements for Stevens’ reinstatement, informing the student that he must now review the state’s “Guidance to School Districts for Creating a Safe and Support School Environment For Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Students” documents, and “self-monitor” his social media posts to “ensure that he presents himself in a professional manner.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.
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