Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Professor Hiers sued the Board of Regents of the University of North Texas Nathaniel Hiers was an adjunct mathematics professor at the University of North Texas (UNT), teaching linear algebra. The loss of knowledge over the past half century may never be recouped. There are forbidden subjects, like talking about masks.. // -->, - That decorated veteran died because local hospitals were overwhelmed, and their beds completely full, after a surge in Covid-19 patients. University of North Texas Hurley Administration Building. A the governor took time from combing his hair to _______? Last week, the college agreed to pay former professor Lora D. Burnett $70,000, plus legal fees, to end a First Amendment lawsuit the instructor filed after her termination. Burnett lost her job after criticizing former Vice President Mike Pence on Twitter. or subscribe. On Twitter, Phillips posted an excerpt from an administration PowerPoint presentation that specifically banned even the suggestion of masks. This policy contains many such examples including referring to America as a melting pot or saying there is only one race, the human race. It includes clear political speech like calling affirmative action racist. They are all microaggressions and could be used as the basis for university action or intervention. Hiers emphasizes that in no way, shape, or form did he deface or vandalize the fliers, only that he poked fun at them. Copyright 2023 The College Fix, all rights reserved. He sued and the court sided with him. We think the court recognized the right to free speech is for everyone, not just the powerful, Langhofer said. The 24-year-old man accused of shooting a 6-year-old girl, her parents and another neighbor after a basketball rolled into his yard in North Carolina is now in police custody. Sentimos mucho las molestias causadas. Muchas gracias. Michael Phillips, a professor of history at Collin College, in Texas. MORE: Medievalists ban microaggressions against vulnerable scholars, Calling them garbage can even be perceived as threatening, While Hiers was in Schmidts office, the department chair requested that Hiers attend even more diversity trainings than what UNT required, according to the suit. Hiers was a math professor at the University of North Texas who was fired after he made a joke about campus fliers on microaggressions, calling them garbage. In Dallas Observer's The Morning After Brunch, history professor filed a lawsuit against Collin College, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, Collin College would not be renewing her contract, former professor who alleged multiple protected-speech violations, alleging retaliation and race- and disability-based discrimination. Pgina Principal | Copyright 2023 Inside Higher Ed All rights reserved. Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in. The court said the university likely violated Hiers free speech rights when his contract was rescinded following a joke he wrote on a chalkboard. Phillips signed the form on August 27, while disputing its findings and writing that faculty have the right of free speech, as well as the right to speak on matters of public concern. I cant believe it.. There was an error processing your request. 2 min read. The publicly funded University of North Texas was dealt a blow in court after a federal judge said school officials can be held responsible for firing employees for exercising their right of free speech. DISD bond's impact on property taxes, Weve come this far: St. Andrew Church of God in Christ celebrates 100 years with two-day event, UNTs Ashley Peters pitches nine-inning shutout at FAU, Where does UNT stand as far as adding, losing transfers? Nevertheless, Collins apparent purge of faculty critics continues. Jacksons lawsuit states that on July 31, 2020, the school released a statement that it had launched a formal investigation into the Journal and UNT Press. At least 100 students at Loyola University in New Orleans last week protested the firing of the director of its African and African American Studies program. And in each case, the colleges decided to ignore the First Amendment and their own policies.. An investigation into the journal violated North Texass own policy statement on academic freedom and academic responsibility, he wrote in a memo warning of possible legal action. SHERMAN, Texas In a victory for free speech on public university campuses, the University of North Texas has agreed to pay $165,000 in damages and attorneys fees for violating a math professors First Amendment rights when it fired him for writing a joke criticizing microaggressions on a chalkboard in the teachers lounge. Ewell says he was never contacted directly to participate.) The administration had previously warned Phillips and other faculty that they could not recommend masks. Meanwhile, we have filed a motion asking the trial judge to stop all activity in the district court until the parties receive a ruling on the appeal.". Ross earned his Juris Doctor in 2016 from Vanderbilt Law School, where he served as president of the Christian Legal Society and executive authorities editor for the Vanderbilt Transnational Law Journal. We are on a trajectory to end up like the apes examining the Obelisk in the famous opening to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.. Copyright 2008-2023, Legal Insurrection, All Rights Reserved. Jackson, who founded the Center for Schenkerian Studies at North Texas and its Journal of Schenkerian Studies, did not agree with Ewell, to put it lightly. Some of the eventual responses were pro-Ewell. Police determined that no shots had been fired and no one was hurt or injured. and help keep the future of the Observer, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. Last week the college agreed to pay $70,000, plus legal fees, to Lora D. Burnett to end a First Amendment lawsuit the former professor filed after her termination. Jacksons letter disagreed with Ewell on several points while defending Schenker as a victim of antisemitism by pointing out that the composer had been persecuted in Nazi Germany for being Jewish. Photo courtesy of Michael Phillips. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Faculty are afraid to broach certain subjects. Mathematics Department Chair Professor Ralf Schmidt expressly stated that [m]y decision not to continue your employment in the spring semester was based on your actions in the grad lounge on 11/26 [2019], and your subsequent response.. Michael Vasquez is a senior investigative reporter for. I dont. But you very much defended your actions, and stated clearly that you are not interested in any kind of diversity training. | Website designed by nclud. More were not. Phillips recalled an ominous conversation he had at the time with Matkin, the president. Rather than defend Professor Jacksons academic freedom, the University of North Texas and its administrators joined the witch hunt, the lawsuit says. Last April, The Chronicle profiled H. Neil Matkin, the colleges controversial president. Wisdom can be gleaned from the story of the engineers Roger Boisjoly and Bob Ebeling regarding the Challenger disaster (they called NPR anonymously) and later Boisjoly wrote a book and toured colleges speaking on his ignored warnings. Around this time, one graduate student who is not named in the complaint, who worked on the journal, said in a Facebook post that he was intimidated into continuing to edit in the symposium by Jackson. ", Clearly, Allen said, accusing Jackson of racist actions for doing nothing other than the ordinary work of academic scholarship qualifies as defamation., Asked if Jackson was trying to censor his critics, Allen said defamation law is not censorship, as defamatory statements are not protected by the First Amendment. Calling the defendants statements opinions doesnt make them so, he argued, as they were assertions of fact that are subject to disproof -- that Timothy Jackson engaged in specific racist actions.. Their argument bolsters Hiers belief that microaggressions teach people to focus on the worst possible interpretation of the statement, to disregard the speakers intent, and to impute a discriminatory motive to others.. Got a tip? A member of the bar in Virginia, Kansas, and Arizona, Langhofer is also admitted to practice in numerous federal district courts. After that, he sat down for a meeting with the college provost and senior vice president. In total defiance of the First Amendment, the University of North Texas has fired a math professor for criticizing the concept of microaggressions and for Plano Family Grieving a Daughter Stolen by Fentanyl Offers a Warning: Sex Offender Faces up to 40 Years after Being Nabbed in Online Child Porn Sting, The Last Ride of Legendary Storm Chaser Tim Samaras, Dallas Officer, K-9 Shot Overnight in Pleasant Grove, Suspect Reportedly Killed, Police, Fire Associations Split on Dallas City Council Endorsements, Forensic Hypnosis Could Soon Be Only a Memory in Texas Criminal Cases, From Banned Books to Banned Textbooks: Bill Would Require 'Positive' Framing of U.S. History. Brand added, You might consider starting an entirely new journal dedicated to Schenkerian studies, one with a different name, different publisher, and different institutional home. The first two pages focus on gender microaggressions and appear to have been compiled internally at UNH from various internet sources. They know now that the administration will be reaching into the classroom. Skip to main content close Find what you're looking for at UNT Search Glenn Youngkin declines 2024 White House bid 'this year', Wisconsin Republican proposes across-the-board social media limits for minors. A professor at the University of North Texas is suing the school for punishing him after he pushed back against the idea that music theory is a function of The alliance is representing Hiers. His suit, filed this month in federal court in Texas, alleges that his colleagues defamed him as a racist for comments he made in the academic journal he founded 20 years ago. Launching Media Careers. Perhaps its also instructive to note how Jacksons symposium made Ewell feel. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com. ", WESTERN CAROLINA STUDENTS FACE DEATH THREATS, FACULTY MOCKERY FOR SPEAKING OUT AGAINST 'WOKE' TRAINING. He told Inside Higher Ed in August that some of the symposium's worst comments were anti-Black in that they communicated that Black people should aspire to whiteness. Por favor vuelva en 24 Hrs. Professors say they've been dismissed after raising concerns. Its also about the boundaries of academic critique. I have students say I inspired them, Phillips told The Chronicle. Michael Phillips says as the fall semester began, he continued to be bothered by the schools approach to the pandemic. UNT retaliated against him, engaged in content- and viewpoint-based discrimination, and attempted to compel speech from him. He was clear that his thoughts were Its OK that you believe in these. Allen, Jackson's lawyer, said this week that the defendants in the case falsely claimed that Jackson engaged in racist actions for "doing nothing other than publishing articles, some critical and some in support of a Black scholar. Hiers earned his doctorate in math in the spring of 2019, and was hired as an adjunct professor in 2019. Subscribe for free to Inside Higher Eds newsletters, featuring the latest news, opinion and great new careers in higher education delivered to your inbox. "The defendants published a statement calling Professor Jackson a 'racist' who engaged in 'racist actions,' which is false statement of fact.". Former professor accepts $70,000 from Collin College to end her First Amendment lawsuit, Amid controversies over COVID-19 and fired professors, some blame Collin College's president. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Mark Levin: Critical race theory is poison, Texas Gov. Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life. The news that I have been fired is heartbreaking to me, he wrote. A former Palm Beach Atlantic University professor fired after a parent complained he was indoctrinating students with lessons about racial justice has filed a Join the Observer community and help support Following the publishing of the symposium, supporters of Ewell began calling on UNT to fire Jackson, including at least 18 UNT faculty members and several grad students. Staff Writer The university sent an explicit message: Agree with us or else. I additional hope that the combined settlement costs plus legal fees leave a hole in their budget that can never be backfilled. Before joining ADF, Langhofer was a partner with Stinson Leonard Street LLP, where he worked as a commercial litigation attorney for 15 years and earned Martindale-Hubbells AV Preeminent rating. They hated history until they came into my class.. Stupid is supposed to hurt, and that seems like the only way that the left is ever going to learn to control themselves. Ewell also criticized the late Jewish music theorist, composer, and teacher Heinrich Schenker as "an ardent racist and German nationalist" and alleged that "our white racial frame seeks to shield Schenker from unwanted criticism.". Sentimos mucho las molestias causadas. The lawsuit, first reported by Campus Reform, claims that the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of professor Timothy Jackson were violated by the school when they removed him from the academic journal he co-founded after he published several articles that students and faculty deemed "racist. 6:00 AM on Dec 1, 2019 CST. Low 51F. Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. Become a member to support the independent voice of Dallas North Texas announced it was looking into the symposium last summer, keeping in mind academic freedom, the responsibility that goes with that freedom and the universitys commitment to diversity and inclusion and to the highest standards of scholarship and professional ethics. It appointed a five-member faculty panel from outside the School of Music, experienced in editing scholarly journals, to "examine objectively the processes followed in the conception and production" of the issue. Out of respect for the privacy of our faculty members and their respective current and future employment, it is our practice not to publicly comment on such specific matters, the college wrote. But in Texas, Republican politicians have forbidden public colleges from requiring the wearing of face masks. In the speech, and in a paper Ewell published after the speech, Ewell complained that music theory is "White" and argued that as a Black man he feels uncomfortable that the vast majority of music theory professors are White. Students and faculty were not content to protest such events but acted to prevent others from hearing opposing views. A Texas substitute teacher lost his job after using the n-word in a classroom full of students at Swift Elementary School in Arlington. que usted est in international business with a minor in economics from Wichita State University in 1996. of N. Texas on behalf of math professor fired for joke about 'microaggressions', BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TITLE IX RULE CHANGE, Hiers v. The Board of Regents of the University of North Texas System, Pronunciation guide: Hiers (HI-urs), Langhofer (LANG-hoff-ur). I have students say I inspired them, said Phillips, who will need to find a new job after his current contract expires on May 15. Less than a week after Collin College agreed to pay $70,000 to a former professor fired for questionable reasons, yet another faculty member at the Texas community college is going to be out of a job. The fliers come from the University of New Hampshires ADVANCE program to support female faculty in STEM disciplines, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. "It is frankly outrageous that that a respected and established scholar should become the victim of a crusade in the name of a vague and specious charge of racism over what should be easily recognized as an ordinary dispute over scholarship.". Were going to need some McDonalds hot coffee-level judgements. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. Thats the message the university should be modeling., MORE: Professors advised to treat classroom microaggressions as assault, Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter. Invalid password or account does not exist. | Langhofer earned his Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude in 1999. Burnett, the former professor who is receiving a payout from the college, told The Chronicle she is furious about Phillipss dismissal, as well as what he said was an attempt by administrators to hide the true reasons for his departure. Math Department Chairman Ralf Schmidt, a named defendant, allegedly told Hiers that his response to the flyers was stupid and cowardly. In the week following this, Schmidt fired Hiers. ", "The defendants have formally notified the court of appeals that we are appealing the district courts decision to deny our motion to dismiss," a spokesperson for the school said. KERA News Weekday Update Newsletter Signup, Third Collin College Professor Let Go After Publicly Criticizing The School, Collin College Dean Of Nursing Dies From COVID-19 Complications. So they dont tell the story like the photo in the Tennessee case did. Schenkers wife died at Theresienstadt, following his own death in 1935 from natural causes. That is utterly morally depraved, Burnett said. Realizamos If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. And it really hampers the education of our students. Less than a week after Collin College agreed to pay $70,000 to a former professor fired for questionable reasons, yet another faculty member at the Texas community college is out of a job. More to the point: Is calling a colleague a racist for his race-based comments against the law? The college says it regularly decides not to renew professors' contracts. ", Defamation, properly construed, is an important exception to the First Amendment's protection, Creeley said. All of this points toward a violation of the misconduct policy, the former math professor argues. The lawsuit filed this week is the second free speech lawsuit filed against the North Texas community college in two months. In separate filings, both professors claim that their First Amendment rights were violated for public statements they made outside the classroom. Get exclusive, in-depth coverage of the University of North Texas athletics teams in this weekly newsletter. Timothy Jackson, distinguished university research professor of music theory at North Texas, thinks it is, at least in his case. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Ukraine said it successfully protected Kyiv by intercepting 15 of 18 cruise missiles launched overnight, but major damage was reported away from the capital. That lack of clarity (and the subjectivity of some of the term) creates a chilling effect on free speech. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! SHERMAN, Texas In a victory for free speech on public university campuses, the University of North Texas has agreed to pay $165,000 in damages and attorneys fees Jackson is seeking a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages to the full extent authorized by law.. KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. ", The university took action against Jackson after he held a symposium that promoted differing opinions on a speech by Hunter College of the City University of New York professor Philip Ewell entitled "Music Theorys White Racial Frame. But communications between Jackson and the graduate student included with Jacksons complaint demonstrate that the student expressed at least initial interest in challenging Ewell's comments via the journal. I also noted that individual public administrators could face personal liability for their involvement in adopting such woke programs, as the clear nature of the law puts their usual qualified immunity in serious jeopardy. Receive information from our advertisers or special DR-C offers. He also objected strongly to the fact that Ewell didnt mention Schenker was Jewish in Nazi-era Germany and Austria.