A University at Buffalo professor was arrested after unleashing a profanity-laced tirade over a pro-life display on the university's campus, according to a report by Mediaite.
Laura Curry, an adjunct media studies professor at the university, was arrested Monday after ranting about a pro-life display on campus that she claimed was profane. When confronted by police officers over her use of profanity, she claimed that her tirade was just as profane as the display, set up by the University of Buffalo club Students for Life.
(Editor's Note: This article contains explicit language that some readers may find objectionable.)
"That is swearing," Curry told police. "That image is fucking profane."
The Spectrum, an independent, student-run University at Buffalo newspaper, said the display showed "dismembered fetus limbs and comparisons of abortions to genocide, child abuse and hate crimes."
Curry argued with police and claimed that her use of profane language was protected under the First Amendment.
“Where does it say I can't use the fuck word in public,” Curry asked a slew of police officers. “I can swear because that’s part of my vocabulary. That’s part of my First Amendment rights.”
However, after over two minutes of arguing, police put cuffs on her wrists and escorted her away from the display.
John DellaContrada, the assistant vice president for media relations at the University at Buffalo, told Creative Minority Report that Curry "was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct."
DellaContrada also insisted that "it is a fundamental value of UB that all members of the campus community and their invited guests have a right to peacefully express their views and opinions," including the right of "protesters to oppose the views or opinions of others." But, he added, that did not include ways that would "limit or prevent the speaker's freedom of expression or interfere with university operations."
Curry was not the only faculty member to voice her objection to the pro-life display. The Spectrum published a letter to the editor Tuesday from a group of six University of Buffalo professors who were "disturbed by the equation of those who support women’s reproductive rights with those who lynched thousands of African American men and women in the 19th and 20th centuries."
The professors added that any students who wished to know more about why they objected to that equation could "take any of our classes."
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