Jackson was then told by UNT Provost Jennifer Cowley to submit a plan on how to address a report from an ad hoc panel outlining problems with his actions but a week before the deadline he was given he learned that he had been removed from the journal and that university funding for the journal and Center for Schenkerian Studies was being halted. Another recent decision (Hiers v. Board of Regents of the University of North Texas) amplifies this latter point. Jacksons lawyer, Michael Allen, reached out to the university to dissuade it from its inquiry. 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. Stay up to date with all of the sports news coming out of Denton-area high schools. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, If you forget it, you'll be able to recover it using your email address. Donations tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Copyright 2008-2023, Legal Insurrection, All Rights Reserved. The county court agreed with the family that the post amounted to defamation, but the appeals court determined that the post, viewed in its entire context, constitutes non-actionable commentary upon disclosed facts.. Phillips recalled an ominous conversation he had at the time with Matkin, the president. He was very clear that he did write the message. Soporte Tcnico |. A University of North Texas professor was fired from his job after making a joke about microaggressions. He is now suing UNT in federal court. The costs of the judgements and legal fees should be shared by the individual perpetrators not the schools, therefore the taxpayers. A Florida university has fired a professor after he wrote on Twitter that the destruction from Hurricane Harvey was "instant karma" for Texans voting Republican. Hiers rejects the concept of microaggressions because while purporting to reject bias and prejudice, the concept actually hurts diversity and tolerance, the suit continues: This mode of thinking teaches people to see the worst in other people, promotes a culture of victimhood, and suppresses alternative viewpoints instead of encouraging growth and dialogue. A humanities professor, Audra Heaslip, has also alleged that she was fired for her public concerns about the handling of the pandemic. Hiers emphasizes that in no way, shape, or form did he deface or vandalize the fliers, only that he poked fun at them. He obtained a B.A. "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.". Phillips has an expertise in race relations, and he led a campaign to pressure the city of Dallas to take down its Confederate monuments. 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. The best stories from KERA sent to your inbox. I additional hope that the combined settlement costs plus legal fees leave a hole in their budget that can never be backfilled. Become a member to support the independent voice of Dallas Represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, Nathaniel Hiers alleges the taxpayer-funded institution rescinded his spring contract without notice for making a joke. FIRE is representing Phillips as well. intentando acceder se encuentra fuera de servicio temporalmente debido a un Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. Langhofer earned his Juris Doctor from Regent University School of Law, where he graduated cum laude in 1999. 2 min read. For example, it is a microaggression to inquire (presumably after someone says that they were followed in a store): Are you sure you were being followed in the store? Market data provided by Factset. Moreover, FIRE has said, in most jurisdictions, criticism of another person or their views as racist is a statement of opinion, not a statement of fact. Por favor vuelva en 24 Hrs. The suit interjects that Schmidt failed to consider that the fliers themselves were anonymously placed in the lounge: The chair made no attempt to identify, let alone discipline the person who left them there. 6:00 AM on Dec 1, 2019 CST. Schmidt made clear that he was trying to compel speech from Hiers as a condition of keeping his job, the filing said, quoting the chair: Everyone makes mistakes, and Im all for forgiveness if actions are followed by honest regret. sistema. The university officials allegedly flouted that core principle of the First Amendment when they discontinued Hiers employment because of his speech. A But faculty filing suit against their peers and students for sharp criticism on academic questions risks chilling debate on campus, where it matters most.. Alliance Defending One parent says her son came A Texas substitute teacher lost his job after using the n-word in a classroom full of students at Swift Elementary School in Arlington. and help keep the future of the Observer, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. He sued and the court sided with him. Also named in both official and individual capacities: the Board of Regents, Chancellor Lesa Roe, President Neal Smatresk, Provost Jennifer Evans-Cowley, Dean of the College of Science Su Gao, and Associate Math Department Chair William Cherry. Public universities should be modeling First Amendment values. The alliance is representing Hiers. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com. 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. In 2017, for instance, the Tennessee Court of Appeals reversed a lower courts decision in a case involving a woman's Facebook post accusing a family of being white supremacists because they had pro-Confederate stickers on their car. Derechos juan.betancourt@dentonrc.com, Denton Flea Market, filled with Latino entrepreneurs, brings folks together to shop and eat, Meet two Denton ISD Teachers of the Year, awarded by Jostens and chosen by the district, Denton police investigate dogs found deceased in parked vehicle, Morning brief: Yes, no, maybe? It was expanded, saying we shouldn't mention social distancing. intentando acceder se encuentra fuera de servicio temporalmente debido a un Breaking Campus News. 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. They have created an atmosphere of total fear and distrust, Phillips told The Chronicle on Monday. A number of professors being sued said theyd been directed by the university not to comment. At the late 2019 meeting of the Society for Music Theory, Philip Ewell, associate professor of music at Hunter College of the City University of New York, delivered a plenary address called Music Theorys White Racial Frame. His message was that music theory has been and continues to be overwhelmingly white, that whiteness has shaped the discipline and that this should be interrogated. The fields white racial frame seeks to shield Schenker from unwanted criticism, said Ewell, who is Black. The University of North Texas seems to place more importance on being woke than the Constitution. ", The 17 professors -- all of whom are defendants in the lawsuit -- expressed particular concern about Ewell, saying the treatment of his work provides an example of the broader system of oppression built into the academic and legal institutions in which our disciplines exist.. All rights reserved. AUSTIN In October, University of Texas senior Candace Kosted came across a tweet that unnerved her. Your e-mail address will be used to confirm your account. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Jackson is seeking a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages to the full extent authorized by law.. Sunshine and clouds mixed. Phillips urged his students to consider wearing masks, even though the college didnt require them to, and to really think about the person next to you, and think about the consequences of your actions.. In a statement, the college said it is routine practice for some faculty employment contracts to not be renewed. The loss of knowledge over the past half century may never be recouped. This was accomplished by a work force educated by the bare-basics 1950s system using slide rules and mechanical calculatorsRun by old-school WW2 people unschooled in all the virutes of Political Correctness. We previously discussed concerns over free speech on the campus of the University of North Texas, including the canceling of an event on child gender transitioning. As one of Texas' largest universities, we offer 112 bachelor's, 94 master's and 38 doctoral degree programs within the university's 14 colleges and schools. Rather than defend Professor Jacksons academic freedom, the University of North Texas and its administrators joined the witch hunt, the lawsuit says. Teaching, mentoring, and getting to know my students and watching them flower into full adulthood has been one of the most rewarding parts of my life.. Lo sentimos pero la pgina Error! We went from a near standing-start to the moon within the original time frame (before the end of the decade) and on-budget. bcolombo@dentonrc.com, US 380 in Cross Roads set to be reduced to one lane eastbound Thursday, Friday, Denton man allegedly returned to murder scene, hospital after shooting his co-worker, By Juan Betancourt The truth is exactly the opposite, the new math was outright sabotage and along with the whole language reading reforms within 10 years the university sci-tech programs were full of foreign students taking places the US students mis-educated under these reforms could not qualify for. 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 response was swift. I am ashamed of my Alma Mater and have cancelled all donations to the Alumni Fund. Once javascript and access to those URLs are allowed, please refresh this page. The institutions senior vice president proposed that I could make a graceful exit from the college by working with the administration to construct a narrative around my departure, Phillips wrote on Twitter. | Another point: It is sexist/heterosexist to be forced to choose Male or Female when completing basic forms.. Mean Joe Green was putting our football team in sports headlineshow soon will trans-gendered men be representing the womens sports teams? They hated history until they came into my class.. Concerning music theorys whiteness, Jackson said Black people should set different priorities. A fundamental reason for the paucity of African-American women and men in the field of music theory is that few grow up in homes where classic music is profoundly valued, he added. The latest casualty: Michael Phillips, a history professor who has taught at Collin for 14 years and who said he had overwhelmingly positive evaluations from students. Described on its website as a nonprofit legal group that helps defendants litigate cases relating to religious liberty, the sanctity of life, and marriage and family, the alliance has gone to court and won more than 435 victories since 2006 for students and faculty, both in kindergarten through 12th grade institutions and at public universities. 2021 Alliance Defending Freedom is a registered 501(C)(3) Charity. Professors say they've been dismissed after raising concerns. Langhofer said Hiers intended to launch his academic career at UNT, eventually working his way up from an adjunct professor to a tenured faculty member. 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.. For instance, statements such as I believe the most qualified person should get the job and America is the land of opportunity are cited as microaggressions promoting the [m]yth of [m]eritocracy., Professor Hiers propped up the flier on a chalkboard ledge and wrote on the board Please dont leave garbage lying around., He was then summoned by the chair of the math department, who demanded an apology that Hiers wouldnt give, so they fired him. So they dont tell the story like the photo in the Tennessee case did. Instead, theyre modeling that you can be punished for challenging someone in power.. Perhaps its also instructive to note how Jacksons symposium made Ewell feel. Hiers found flyers in the math department faculty lounge about microaggressions, and then wrote a quip on the chalkboard: Please dont leave your garbage lying around, with an arrow pointing to the flyers, which werent official university documents, the lawsuit says. local news and culture, Simone Carter The college says it regularly decides not to renew professors' contracts. Preserving the freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think is both an inherent good, and an abiding goal of our democracy. The university officials allegedly flouted that core principle of the First Amendment when they discontinued Hierss employment because of his speech. In 2019, he was teaching there and is getting ready to launch his career and gets fired for something that is frankly an anathema. Jackson. Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org . Contacto | TheHierscase should serve notice to public university administrators that while wokeism may be the accepted narrative of the faculty lounge, the law is not so easily ignoredand that continued violations may well result in their being held personally liable. The court included the picture in its opinion: When Schmidt sent around a demand for the person responsible to step forward, Hiers publicly accepted responsibility. In any case, Allen said, the court is an open forum in which defendants arent silenced but rather called to speak and justify their defamatory actions in public. Texas in particular holds that a statement is defamatory "if it tends to injure the person's reputation, exposing the person to public hatred, contempt, ridicule or financial injury, or if it tends to impeach that person's honesty, integrity or virtue," he said. Faculty, Students Ask Why. A case that rocked the music field last year is back -- this time in the form of a defamation and retaliation lawsuit against the University of North Texas, one of its graduate students and 17 professors of music history, theory and ethnomusicology. My decision not to continue your employment in the spring semester was based on your actions in the grad lounge on 11/26, and your subsequent response, Schmidts email to Hiers allegedly read. Shortly before Burnetts firing last year, the college pushed out two other professors who had tried to organize a chapter of the Texas Faculty Association, which acts like a union but is not recognized for collective bargaining under Texas law. They know now that the administration will be reaching into the classroom. We have previously discussed microaggression policies and the concerns over free speech over their fluid definition and controversial examples. Professor Hiers sued the Board of Regents of the University of North Texas U. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy group that represented Professor Nathaniel Hiers in a lawsuit against UNT, announced the settlement Ewell says he was never contacted directly to participate.) This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Key to that appeals ruling was the photo of the vehicle accompanying the allegations of white supremacy. 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.". 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. 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 The actions of Dr. Jackson -- both past and present -- are particularly racist and unacceptable, they wrote. Staff Writer He just kind of smirked, and thats when he said, I just want to make sure you can keep doing your job.. Abbott tells Chicago mayor to take complaints on border crisis to the White House, Biden admin's coordination with environmental groups to ban gas stoves under investigation by Cruz, Comer, Virginia Gov. You may then be asked to log in, create an account if you don't already have one, Langhofer said the court likely ruled against the motion to dismiss because Hiers suit included emails from his superiors explaining the reasons for his termination, as well as documents regarding Hiers admission that he did write the message and wasnt apologetic for doing so. Sentimos mucho las molestias causadas. The University of North Texas fired a full-time math professor for the weighty crime of disagreeing with fliers on microaggressions, according to a First Amendment lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court. or redistributed. Police determined that no shots had been fired and no one was hurt or injured. Stupid is supposed to hurt, and that seems like the only way that the left is ever going to learn to control themselves. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.. We were told we could not use any language at all, urging, recommending, expressing hopes that students would wear masks, Phillips said. Higher Education News, Opinion and Careers | Weekdays, Quick Summary of the Week's Higher Ed News | Fridays, Admissions and Enrollment News, Opinion and Careers | Mondays, Diversity News, Opinion and Career Advice | Tuesdays, Student Success News, Ideas, Advice and Inspiration | Weekdays, Hundreds of UNC Professors Oppose Overreach, New College Board Denies Tenure for 5 Professors, Why Floridas Public College PresidentsShouldResign. There was an error processing your request. An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Texass department of agriculture is run by Sid Miller, a Republican who was first elected to his role in 2014. A group of graduate students in music petitioned their dean, demanding a formal response to what they described as the journals horrendous lack of peer review and clear lack of academic rigor. They asked North Texas, as publisher, to dissolve Schenkerian Studies and consider removing faculty members who had used it to promote racism.. In that case, Oberlin faculty members, students and even some administrators accused the local bakery of racial profiling after an employee chased after a Black student who was allegedly shoplifting. 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. 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. The message it sends to everyone else is that universities cant abridge the freedom of speech. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The fliers claimed that certain phrases are microaggressions that propagate the myth of meritocracy and promote color blindness. They include America is a melting pot, I believe the most qualified person should get the job, and America is the land of opportunity., Such phrases target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership, according to the fliers. 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 All of these are free speech cases. Area Nevertheless, Collins apparent purge of faculty critics continues. Go look at those departments (or Silicon Valley) today. 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. Other courts have found that baseless charges of racism make the defendant liable, Allen added, citing the example of the Gibsons Bakery v. Oberlin College case in Ohio. Everyone has the right to express their opinion and the government cant choose which ones are approved of and which arent. Jackson received a message from his provost the same day, directing him to develop a plan to address the panels findings by Dec. 18. Yet the symposium is part of the public record, and anyone who wishes to read Jacksons words for him or herself may do so. Subscribe for free to Inside Higher Eds newsletters, featuring the latest news, opinion and great new careers in higher education delivered to your inbox. I dont. A fired math professor has sued a university in Texas, accusing it of unlawfully firing him over criticizing a flier listing microaggressions. 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. Muchas gracias. SHERMAN, Texas A federal district court said late Friday that a professors lawsuit against the University of North Texas may proceed after he was fired over a joke There are forbidden subjects, like talking about masks.. Invalid password or account does not exist. The "defendants have published the defamatory statements of their students and are legally responsible for their slander," the lawsuit says. April 27, 2020. Collin College administrators were uncomfortable with Phillipss taking a stand on the Confederate-statue issue, the professor told The Chronicle last year. You have permission to edit this article. The Lead for the NASA team to which I was assigned was 29 years old and had THREE PhDs. And Phillips also told his students about a Houston-area resident, the recipient of a Purple Heart in the military, who died from a preventable illness because he couldnt get a hospital bed. Matkin, who enjoys strong support from some Republican state lawmakers, has dismissed the dangers of Covid-19, and some former and current employees say the president quashes any form of faculty dissent, while pushing out employees who dare to challenge his authority. The most likely cause of this is a content blocker on your computer or network. As an undergraduate physics major at what was then called North Texas State University in the late 1960s, I interned on the NASA Apollo Program while we put men on the moon and returned them safely to earth several times starting in 1969. 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 Both Schenker and his wife knew very well that they were considered Other by mainstream German-speaking Viennese society, as his Jewish students would be later in America, Jackson wrote. That would provide you and others involved in the project with a cleaner break with the controversy that has surrounded the most recent volume., Jackson took this to mean that Brand was trying to block him from any future involvement in the journal, as was the university in commissioning the investigation in the first place, according to the lawsuit. The latest casualty: history professor Michael Phillips, who taught at Collin for 14 years, and says he had overwhelmingly positive evaluations from students. Timothy Jackson, distinguished university research professor of music theory at North Texas, thinks it is, at least in his case. In mylast piece, I covered the recent decision inCoalition for TJ v. Fairfax County School District, where the court declared that a new admissions process for a highly-regarded STEM-focused high school was unconstitutional, finding that scrapping the old merit-based process in favor of racial balancing (based on Kendian equity principles) was clearly illegal under decades of Supreme Court authority. Michael Phillips, a professor of history at Collin College, in Texas.