Free speech group claims Harvard fired professor for opinion in article published in India

Harvard cancelled an economics professor’s classes, in effect firing him claims FIRE who says that the action came in response to an op-ed the professor published in India after the July 13 Mumbai terrorist bombing. In the op-ed the professor made recommendations for fighting Islamic terrorism in India including passing a law prohibiting conversion from [...]

Federal appeals court strikes blow for academic freedom

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said that teachers should be able to discuss controversial subjects in the classroom in ruling  that a Capistrano Valley High School history teacher could make derogatory remarks about creationism and religious fundamentalism. The court said teachers should be sensitive to students’ religious beliefs but also that “teachers must also [...]

Free speech: Memo criticizing department head in community college ruled protected speech

A California appeals court found that a memo sent by a disgruntled teacher, Raymond Launier, to a community college faculty criticizing the psychology department chair was protected speech. The ruling hinged on the issue of whether the memo was sent “without malice.” The appellate judge said that given the testimony at trial, a jury could [...]

Editorial: Freedom of Information Act used against climate researchers

The Washington Post wrote that Virginia global warming skeptics are using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to obtain thousands of e-mails and documents from the University of Virginia, a move that the newspaper claims is a misuse of the FOIA. The university has agreed to the request, but the Post argues that such fishing [...]

Federal district court reinstates case concerning firing of conservative professor

A professor who had including his conservative writings in his application for a full professorship and was denied tenure won a victory in federal court. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated his case, disagreeing with a district court finding that the professor’s writings and speeches were unprotected speech when he included them in his [...]

Defamation: Federal judge says university may label websites ‘unreliable’

A federal district judge ruled that the University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies was not committing defamation when it put a website on a blacklist of sites not deemed reliable for academic use. The Turkish Coalition of America had sued for defamation and violations of freedom of speech. -db From the Minnesota [...]

Michigan conservatives file FOIA requests for professors’ e-mails

The conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy has requested under the Freedom of Information Act the e-mails of professors from the University of Michigan, Michigan State and Wayne State University that pertain to the Wisconsin labor dispute. The request comes after the Wisconsin Republican party filed a records request of University of Wisconsin history professor, [...]

Federal appellate court to hear defamation lawsuit on creationism

The 9th Circuit federal court is hearing a lawsuit brought by a former California public school student who contends that his teacher committed defamation in calling creationism “superstitious nonsense.” The plaintiffs say that the teacher violated the Establishment Clause with hostile statements about religion. The teachers attorney says to find the teacher liable would cast [...]

Federal appeals court rejects high school teacher’s claim of academic freedom in choosing curriculum

Citing the restrictions on employee speech in the 2006 Supreme Court decision Garcetti v. Ceballos, the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals rejected an Ohio English teacher’s claim that a school district violated her First Amendment rights for firing her after she made a controversial assignment about book-banning. -db First Amendment Center October 25, 2010 By [...]

Federal court rules professor’s racially offensive e-mails protected by First Amendment

A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an Arizona community college was not required to curtail a professor’s racially charged e-mails that some said created a hostile work environment since the content of the e-mails caused the furor. The Court said the e-mails, while offensive to colleagues, were protected by the [...]

Bill Ayers and student sue University of Wyoming for canceling speech

Bill Ayers, a co-founder of a radical anti-war group that claimed responsibility for bombings during the Vietnam War, and a student are suing the University of Wyoming for canceling his speech on educational theory. Ayers is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. -db LaramieBoomerang.com April 15, 2010 By Peter Baumann After [...]

Critical book review brings French criminal libel charge

A New York University law professor has been charged with criminal libel in France for refusing to take down a book review posted on the internet. A CMLP blogger argues that this is a particularly egregious case of “libel tourism” and a threat to free speech and academic freedom. -db Citizen Media Law Project Opinion [...]

California state senator asks state university to curb donor influence on curriculum

Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco has asked the administration of Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo to keep wealthy donors from influencing curriculum. The request came after the Harris Ranch Beef Company threatened to withhold a half million dollar contribution unless the university scuttled a certain guest lecture. -DB California State Senate Leland Yee, Ph.D [...]

Critics want state deputy attorney to drop plans for teaching course with author of torture memos

Critics of John Woo who wrote memos for the Bush administration justifying torture are pressuring a California deputy attorney general to drop plans to teach a constitutional law class at UC Berkeley with Woo. They say that teaching the class with Woo would “legitimize his [Woo's] illegal and unethical actions.” -DB San Francisco Chronicle December [...]

Professor’s association issues alert on threats to academic freedom and faculty speech

In the aftermath of a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting free speech rights for public employees, the American Association of University Professors is mounting a campaign to alert the public about subsequent stifling of faculty criticism of administrative policies. -DB First Amendment Center November 12, 2009 By David L. Hudson Jr. Public colleges and [...]

Obama talk to school children stirs up animosity in Texas

President Barack Obama’s plan to speak to students about the importance of education has caused a impassionate debate as conservatives see the speech as a tool of indoctrination. -DB The Dallas Morning News September 3, 2009 By Matthew Haag and Theodore A groundswell of parent opposition to President Barack Obama’s speech next week to students on [...]

Student’s blogs prove unpalatable at Stanford’s education school

While professing to adhere to standards of intellectual freedom, Stanford’s School of Education found it difficult to work with one of their older students who is outspoken in opposing the school’s progressive policies. -DB The Washington Post Commentary July 22, 2009 By Jay Mathews Michele Kerr (she tells me it is pronounced “cur”) is a hard-working [...]