(Ready) College Prof Who Made Students Sign 'Pledge' to Vote Obama Will Probably Be Fired

President Barack Obama uses a cell phone to call supporters during a visit to a local campaign office, Monday, Oct. 1, 2012 in Henderson, Nev.Credit: AP

A Brevard Community College professor in Cocoa, Florida who allegedly made students sign a pledge to vote for Barack Obama in 2012 is likely to be fired after a three-month investigation found her guilty of harassment, incompetence, and misconduct, and unprofessional behavior in the workplace.

Professor Sharon Sweet has been on paid suspension since Campus Reform broke the story back in September.  She earns $40,000 per year, according to Florida Today, and has worked at the college for five years.

The report reads:

The investigation found that Professor Sweet strongly encouraged or mandated that students from several classes sign a pledge card that stated, “I pledge to vote for President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.”

She also misrepresented her intentions to multiple students, indicating at various times that she was conducting voter registration for the college, that the pledge cards were non-partisan voter registration forms, and that the pledge was a “statistical analysis.”

The teacher's actions violate a litany of school regulations, the investigation found, only one of which was to "[cause] students to feel considerable discomfort, to believe their privacy was being invaded, to fear their grade could be negatively impacted if they refused to sign the pledge cards, and to feel intimidated."

General reviews on "Rate My Professors," a website some students use to decide the best classes to enroll in, seems to substantiate the finds.  Sweet has an overall score of 2.5 out of 5.

"Will not explain things more than once. Not willing to help you with the work. Makes you feel stupid if you do not think the way she does," one student wrote, not referencing the Obama pledge.

The school's investigation into Sweet's conduct concludes: "Taken in its totality, Professor Sweet’s conduct constitutes 'just cause' for termination based on Article 17.1(b) of the agreement between the District Board of Trustees of Brevard Community College and the United Faculty of Florida, 2012-2015."

She has until February 15 (ten days after the report was originally released) to respond to the investigation's findings, at which point the board will conduct a hearing to either approve or reject the recommendation to terminate her employment.

Sweet will remain on paid suspension until the final decision is made.

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Related:

• College Prof on Leave After Forcing Students to Sign ‘Pledge’ to Vote for Obama