NDA disclose disparag gag

where are gop rw 1st amend absolutists?<div>
</div><div><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">this is also LEGAL suppression:</font></p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">i'm sure FIRE is on the case; accred by who?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 1 22</font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Baker College, one of the largest private schools in Michigan, is threatening legal action against a former faculty member who spoke to ProPublica and the Detroit Free Press for an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/the-nonprofit-college-that-spends-more-on-marketing-than-financial-aid" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">investigation</a>&nbsp;published this mon</b>th.
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Jacqueline Tessmer, who taught digital media for 14 years at Baker’s campus in Auburn Hills, told the news organizations that students often came to the nonprofit college unprepared to succeed and exited without degrees or good jobs but with heavy debt from loans. “Baker College has ruined a lot of people’s lives,” she said in the story.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Jan. 19 letter to Tessmer — sent by the law firm Plunkett Cooney on behalf of Baker — demanded she retract her statements, which it described as “false and defamatory.” It did not specify what, if anything, was false. A<b>rguing that Tessmer was in violation of a nondisparagement clause&nbsp;</b>in a settlement she reached with Baker in an employment dispute, attorney Courtney L. Nichols also d<b>emanded that she “agree voluntarily to remit payment to Baker College for the damages it has suffered as a result of your violation(s), including attorney fees.” The letter did not include a dollar amount.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since publication, Baker has not contacted either news organization to contest the validity of her statements. Before publication, the Free Press and ProPublica informed Baker that Tessmer would be quoted and shared her comments. Baker did not specifically address those quotes or Tessmer’s time at the college.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Baker’s letter to her after publication gave her seven days to respond. Tessmer said in an interview this week she stands by her comments and will not meet the college’s demands.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She said she didn’t see how it would be possible to make a retraction even if she wanted to, given that she expressed her opinion “based on what I did in service to the college” and her comments were only “a couple of sentences in a giant article.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I could be quiet, but is it really going to matter at this point?” she added.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freep.com/in-depth/news/local/michigan/2022/01/12/baker-college-financial-aid-marketing/9155389002/" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">story</a>&nbsp;on Baker examined the college’s low graduation rates, its aggressive marketing and the oversight of a Board of Trustees that has included former presidents of the school.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to the letter to Tessmer, Baker responded to the article by emailing students, writing a letter to the editor in the Free Press, and placing a statement on its website that disparaged the story and touted the school’s achievements. Officials have defended the 111-year-old college as an affordable open enrollment school whose practices are reviewed by regulators and accreditors.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Neither Baker nor its lawyer has responded to a request for comment on the legal threat.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tessmer’s relationship with Baker ended in a lawsuit she filed for breach of contract and retaliation. The school disputed her claims in a countersuit, and the case ended in a settlement in 2014. The letter from Baker’s lawyer also suggested that if Tessmer had spoken about the settlement, she would be in violation of it.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“This is what they do,” said Tessmer, now self-employed. “They scare. They huff and they puff, and it works a lot of the time. I mean, it’s worked on me.”</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The letter to Tessmer said that if she did not comply, “Baker College will consider its available recourse.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As of Thursday evening, Tessmer had not heard again from the law firm.</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div>