Instructor Terminated for Harassing Conservative Student Loses Lawsuit
July 21, 2022 | Nebraska
Former University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) graduate student and instructor Courtney Lawton recently lost her lawsuit against the Board of Regents, UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green, and then-NU President Hank Bounds.
She had sued the university after being removed from her teaching position for verbally harassing a student holding a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) sign in 2017.
On the day of the incident, Campus Reform reported that Lawton verbally harassed the then-president of UNL’s TPUSA chapter, Kaitlyn Mullen, calling her a “neo-fascist Becky.”
While putting up her middle finger to the camera, she said in the video, “Neo-fascist Becky right here. Wants to destroy public schools, public universities, hates DACA kids.”
In Lawton’s complaint, she alleged that she was faced with retaliation for engaging in a “protected activity,” denied due process for being dismissed from her teaching duties, and that she suffered an “adverse employment action adversely affecting [her] educational opportunities” due to expressing her First Amendment rights in the “free speech zone.”
However, in his 46-page decision released on June 7, U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher dismissed Lawton’s case. Buescher argued that sovereign immunity under the Eleventh Amendment barred all claims against the Board of Regents.
In addition, the judge could not confirm that Lawton’s First Amendment rights were violated, citing that her claims included “alleged facts” that fell “well short of the line between possibility and plausibility.”
Buescher further explained that “the biggest failing… is in identification of the ‘content’ of Lawton’s speech.”
Due to Lawton’s failure to include the video as evidence in her lawsuit, he declared that it is impossible to know the content of her speech during the incident, and that “there is simply not enough factual information” in her complaint…. (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)
