Gay Student Sanctioned for Offensive E-mails
Damages were settled Friday against a former Baylor University seminary student who sent offensive e-mails to school officials following the loss of his scholarship
Damages were settled Friday against a former Baylor University seminary student who sent offensive e-mails to school officials following the loss of his scholarship.
James Matthew Bass, 25, was a student at Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary until late 2003, when administrators revoked his scholarship after learning that he is gay, according to Waco Tribune-Herald.
No longer able to afford the tuition, Bass withdrew from the largest private institution in Texas.
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According to the Baylor lawsuit filed Jan. 19, school employees, including President Robert Sloan, received a series of e-mails allegedly sent from someone with a Baylor-affiliated e-mail address, said Houston Voice(HV) in Jan.
Some 1000 “highly offensive” e-mails sent to 50 Baylor employees and their families included sexually explicit comments, racial epithets, and a false obituary for a Baylor administrator who is still alive.
Bass, who enrolled in Candler School of Theology in Atlanta last year, did not attend Friday’s hearing. Nor did he show up for Jan. 21 hearing to face charges or file court papers responding to Baylor’s lawsuit, said HV.
According to the lawsuit, Baylor officials used the Comcast Cable records to trace the “broadband modem involved in the harassment campaign” to Bass’ current Atlanta address. The internet service is registered to Bass’s roommate, but Baylor believes Bass repeatedly accessed various services on the school Web site using the traced computer.
Meanwhile, in his past comments to Dallas Voice, Bass contended that although he acknowledges Baylor’s “legal right” to remove his scholarship money, he always met the requirements to receive the scholarships, and he broke no school policy.
Nevertheless, the Friday’s decision wrapped up to the sticky situation, which began last August when Baylor started getting complaints from employees regarding the e-mails.
Judge Alan Mayfield of Waco's 74th State District Court awarded $47,000 in damages and $30,000 in attorneys' fees to Baylor and passed an order to Bass to refrain from sending e-mails.
“Whether or not Baylor will ever collect any of the judgment, I don't know," said Waco attorney Andy McSwain, who represents Baylor. "If we can, we will. But in the end, one of the more important things is to make him stop. He has done that.”
