Regent University Student Forced Into "Psychiatric Evaluation" for Posting Pic of Pat Robertson on Facebook

Posted by Amanda Terkel at 5:05 AM on October 18, 2007.

This post, written by Amanda Terkel, originally appeared on Think Progress

Adam Key, a Regent University law student, has been "indefinitely suspended pending a psychiatric evaluation" for posting on his Facebook page an "unflattering photo" of university founder Pat Robertson:

(click for larger version)

As McClatchy notes, the picture is "from a YouTube video in which Robertson scratches his face with the middle finger of his right hand. The video is edited to freeze the frame in that position for several seconds."

A dean justified the suspension by alleging that Key "brought a gun on campus." But Key insists he has "never owned or carried a gun." In an interview with Above the Law, Key elaborates on why this "pychiatric evaluation" is ridiculous:

Keep in mind, this is the same school that published law review articles relying on sources like Paul Cameron, the man kicked out of the American Psychological Association for deliberately falsifying data in order to further his cause. I would gladly consider an evaluation by a legitimate psychiatrist that is entirely unaffiliated with Regent.

However, as I have repeatedly emphasized, I will undergo this psychiatric exam after Regent forces Pat Robertson to undergo one. Truly, what's crazier... disagreeing with the administration, or hearing voices that tell you about hurricanes that don't happen, and the impending apocalypse?

A look at some of Robertson's past comments:

"I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he [Hugo Chavez] thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." [Link]

Robertson suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent stroke was the result of Sharon's policy, which he claimed is "dividing God's land." [Link]

"You know some of them [college professors] are killers!" [Link]

"I believe it's [Islam] motivated by demonic power. It is satanic and it's time we recognize what we're dealing with. ... [T]he goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not, is world domination." [Link]

Regent is rated the #1 most conservative school in the nation. Approximately 150 of its graduates are serving in the Bush administration. Key said that he went to Regent to "to show people that liberalism isn't a sin."

Tagged as: regent university, facebook, pat robertson, religious right, religious conservatives, education, civil liberties

Amanda Terkel is Deputy Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Deputy Editor for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.