Inside Higher Ed: Not So Free Speech in Campus Governance
When the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago limited the First Amendment protections available to public employees, faculty groups thought that they had dodged a bullet. While the decision didn’t go the way professors hoped, it specifically indicated that additional issues might limit its application in cases involving public college professors.
Now, however, a federal court has applied just the principle that faculty groups thought shouldn’t be applied in higher education — that bosses can punish employees for speech deemed inappropriate — to a case involving a university. As a result, the American Association of University Professors and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression are asking a federal appeals court to affirm that the Supreme Court decision does not apply to public higher education. The two groups warn that failure to reverse the lower court’s decision could make it impossible for professors to freely debate hiring choices or campus policies.
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