College Officials Can Be Personally Liable for Firing Professor in Free Speech Case, Judge Rules
March 21, 2022 | Texas
Public university officials can be held personally liable for dumping an adjunct professor based on his anonymous criticism of the concept of microaggressions, a federal court has concluded.
University of North Texas officials should have known that math professor Nathaniel Hiers’ speech “touched on a matter of public concern and that discontinuing his employment because of his speech violated the First Amendment,” U.S. District Judge Sean Jordan wrote in a 69-page memorandum and order Friday.
He refused to grant qualified immunity to UNT officials who allegedly retaliated against Hiers in 2019 for writing “Don’t leave garbage lying around” on a faculty lounge chalkboard above a stack of flyers, not sanctioned by UNT, explaining microaggressions…. (Excerpt from Virginia Star)
