Victory for Free Speech at Bellevue Community College: College Drops Punishment of Professor for Politically Incorrect Math Question

Bellevue Community College (BCC) has dropped its proposed punishment of Professor Peter Ratener, who composed a math exam problem that featured a woman named Condoleezza dropping a watermelon off the roof of a federal building. Ratener wrote the problem in 2004, but came under intense scrutiny after the exam question was made public in March, 2006. For the last seven months, FIRE has opposed BCC’s attempt to suspend Ratener for a week without pay. FIRE’s efforts proved successful last week when BCC announced that it would not suspend Ratener.