Third fired professor claims in federal lawsuit that Collin College is censoring political speech

[TexasTowelie]

As Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s pledge to end both critical race theory teachings and faculty tenure at state public universities threatens to redefine academic freedom in Texas, a community college in North Texas has already become an early battlefield over faculty members’ free speech rights.

History professor Michael Phillips is the third faculty member at Collin College to sue the school alleging retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights to free speech. Phillips’ lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, says he was fired because he spoke publicly about politically contentious issues like the school’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the removal of Confederate statues in Dallas.

Phillips filed the lawsuit against the college, which serves more than 52,000 students northeast of Dallas, as well as the board of trustees and multiple college administrators, including President H. Neil Matkin, Provost Mary Barnes-Tilley and Abe Johnson, senior vice president of campus operations.

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Phillips said he felt Collin was providing a model for other colleges on how to censor professors who speak out.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2022/03/08/collin-college-free-speech-lawsuit/

[Irish_Dem]

1. Without tenure, there is no academic freedom.

PhDs are now being purged like teachers, librarians, state workers, etc.

[spooky3]

3. That's a separate issue. As a public employee, he has free speech

Protections under the first amendment, which restricts government control over speaking out on matters of public interest, under most conditions.

[Irish_Dem]

4. Tenure is the thing academic PhDs cherish the most.

They are free from any form of retribution.

[spooky3]

5. Sorry, you still don't understand.

I am a retired tenured full professor from a top US university and this happens to be within of my field of expertise. You need to read up on “employment at will” and the “public sector exception” to it. It is a separate issue from academic freedom. Public universities and colleges generally cannot fire even untenured faculty because of their exercising free speech rights (private schools often can, because the first amendment speaks only of government, not private, restrictions on speech).

Look up the fairly recent Indiana University case re: an economics professor who articulated racist and sexist views.

[Irish_Dem]

7. So the issue is not about tenure at all, but about freedom of speech?

And the public sector exception to employment at will?

I am also a PhD from a top university, but only lowly adjunct faculty, so you know more about this.

[spooky3]

8. Exactly. It's not a matter of "lowly"--just look up the cases and

You may find them interesting.

Faculty with contracts (union or individual) or tenure that includes academic freedom may have additional protections, etc., but here, the faculty member probably doesn’t have those. But he has Constitutional rights (within some limitations). I hope he wins.

[Karadeniz]

2. 52,000 students and I've never heard of it....?

[TexasTowelie]

6. It was formerly Collin County Community College and it has only two-year degree programs.

There are also multiple campuses including more that are planned. Students that want to pursue a more rigorous academic pathway are more likely to attend UT-Dallas or University of North Texas in Denton.