In California free speech is furloughed.

Can it be true that if you speak out against the cutbacks in California they can fire you?

Apparently.

Inside Higher Ed:

On Thursday, several hundred students at Southwestern College, a community college outside of San Diego, held a peaceful protest over budget cuts that are leading to the cancellation of more than 400 additional course sections next semester. On Friday, the students got a sign that someone was paying attention to the protest, but they didn’t get the response they wanted: Four faculty members were immediately suspended and barred from the campus or using the campus e-mail system.

The suspended professors include the current and former presidents of the faculty union, which supported the student protest.