|
« AAUP Homepage
|
Supreme Court Allows Adjunct Instructor to Sue
In April the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 2001 ruling allowing an adjunct faculty member to sue administrators over his free-speech rights. Kenneth Hardy sued Jefferson Community College and two administrators there in 1999 because they failed to renew his contract after a local minister complained about Hardy’s use of offensive words in a classroom exchange. The discussion, in a communications class, was about how language can be used to marginalize minorities and other groups.
Hardy argued that his dismissal violated his First Amendment right to free speech. A federal district court dismissed his claims against the college on the ground that, as a state institution, it is immune from such lawsuits. The court also dismissed Hardy’s claim against the administrators in their official capacities, but ruled that they were not immune from lawsuits in their capacities as individuals.
The college appealed the ruling and in 2001 a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court’s denial of the immunity defense to the two administrators. The appeals court ruled that “a teacher’s in-class speech deserves constitutional protection,” and that “such speech, when it is germane to the classroom subject matter and advances an academic message, is protected by the First Amendment.” The college appealed to the Supreme Court, which by declining to hear the case let the lower-court ruling stand.
|