{"id":130981,"date":"2023-07-20T00:05:08","date_gmt":"2023-07-20T04:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=130981"},"modified":"2023-07-20T00:15:53","modified_gmt":"2023-07-20T04:15:53","slug":"free-speech-academic-freedom-watchdogs-sound-alarm-after-court-rules-against-uncollegial-professor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/free-speech-academic-freedom-watchdogs-sound-alarm-after-court-rules-against-uncollegial-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"Free speech, academic freedom watchdogs sound alarm after court rules against \u2018uncollegial\u2019 professor"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has delivered a body blow to free speech as well as academic freedom,’ law professor says<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that North Carolina State University could constitutionally punish a professor for criticizing the school\u2019s diversity policies, prompting concern from free speech and academic freedom watchdogs.<\/p>\n

On July 6, the three-person court released its 2-1 decision<\/a> in Porter v. Board of Trustees of North Carolina State University<\/em>, with two Democrat-appointed judges in the majority and a Republican-appointed judge in the minority.<\/p>\n

The controversy began when NCSU Professor Stephen Porter expressed concerns<\/a> over the impact of the school\u2019s diversity initiatives in a 2016 department meeting, a spring 2018 email, and a September 2018 blog post.<\/p>\n

According to Porter, a tenured professor, the university began preparing retaliatory action against him shortly after his blog post was published.<\/p>\n

In October 2018, his superior suggested he leave his program area, and in November, she sent a letter formally threatening to remove him. In July 2019, she finally followed through on her threat, removing him from his position of authority in the school\u2019s department of higher education because of his \u201clack of collegiality,\u201d according to Porter.<\/p>\n

Porter’s lawsuit<\/a>, supported partially by a loan from his retirement funds, alleged that his employer’s actions were an attempt to punish him for raising objections to its DEI curriculum and initiatives.<\/p>\n

Now, the Fourth Circuit has ruled against Porter, saying that he cannot prove the university\u2019s actions were retaliatory because of the time that passed between the publication of his blog post and his removal from a leadership position in the department of higher education.<\/p>\n

The court also held that because Porter\u2019s criticisms were \u201cuncollegial\u201d and \u201csent only to other faculty members,\u201d they did not touch on matters of public concern, and therefore were not guaranteed First Amendment protections. That is, according to the Fourth Circuit, the First Amendment does not bar the university from punishing Porter for his criticisms since those criticisms were private and \u201cuncollegial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter, who is still listed as a professor at NCSU, did not respond to a request from The College Fix<\/em> seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which filed a brief on behalf of Porter, wrote<\/a> in a post shortly after the decision that it was \u201cdeeply disappointed\u201d in the court\u2019s decision \u201cto restrict faculty rights to voice criticisms of their institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision risks further emboldening universities to punish faculty who are critical of university governance, amplifying an already-pervasive problem,\u201d the foundation wrote.<\/p>\n

This opinion is shared by other pro-First Amendment scholars.<\/p>\n

Washington D.C.-based attorney Hans Bader wrote<\/a> for Liberty Unyielding<\/em> that the \u201c\u2018uncollegiality\u2019 excuse is obviously a mask for viewpoint discrimination, given that university employees routinely are a thousand times more uncivil or uncollegial than Professor Porter, without receiving any discipline at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

And George Washington University law Professor Jonathan Turley wrote the “Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has delivered a body blow to free speech as well as academic freedom in a ruling against a statistics professor at North Carolina State University.”<\/p>\n

\u201c…If this decision stands, \u2018uncollegiality\u2019 will become the new code for retaliating against dissenters on faculties. … If this decision is not reversed, things are likely to get far worse (if possible) for conservative, libertarian and contrarian faculty members. Rather than investigate, sanction, or fire faculty for their viewpoints, schools will now simply declare them uncollegial in raising such viewpoints.”<\/p>\n

Porter\u2019s only option is to appeal to the Supreme Court. His attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the university told The Fix<\/em> via email, \u201cThe university respects the court\u2019s opinion and has nothing further to add at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

MORE: Professor\u2019s lawsuit alleges he was punished for objecting to \u2018woke\u2019 DEI dogma<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Stephen Porter Go Fund Me page<\/a><\/p>\n

\n