Marquette’s Black Eye A professor’s victory for contracts and academic freedom.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/marquettes-black-eye-1530916646
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has given Marquette University a bracing refresher on contracts and academic freedom. In a decision overturning a lower court’s dismissal of the case, the court on Friday ruled that Marquette breached its contract with political science professor John McAdams when it disciplined him “for exercising his contractually protected right of academic freedom.”
The case stems from a blog post by Mr. McAdams about a graduate instructor who had told a Marquette student that opinions against same-sex marriage would not be tolerated in her ethics class. The university says Mr. McAdams proved himself unfit by naming the graduate instructor, Cheryl Abbate, and linking to her publicly available website in his post on the encounter, so it suspended him. Even after losing the case Friday, the university continues to accuse Mr. McAdams of having used his blog to intentionally expose “her name and contact information to a hostile audience that sent her vile and threatening messages.”
The court is categorical in rejecting this argument. “Our review of the blog post,” reads the majority opinion, “reveals that it makes no ad hominem attack on Instructor Abbate, nor does it invite readers to be uncivil to her, either explicitly or implicitly.”
As a private institution Marquette has the right to set its own standards for fitness, as well as to limit the speech of its employees. The difference here, as the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty noted in its defense of Mr. McAdams, is that the professor’s contract promised he could not be punished for exercising academic freedom or exercising his rights under the Constitution.
As the court put it, the “undisputed facts show that the University breached its contract” with the professor. So the ruling orders Marquette “to immediately reinstate Dr. McAdams with unimpaired rank, tenure, compensation and benefits.” It also calls for “further proceedings to determine damages (which shall include back pay).” In short, it is a complete vindication for the professor.
From the start we urged Marquette to acknowledge its mistake and reach some accommodation with Mr. McAdams. In its statement responding to the decision, the school says it will comply with the court order but insists it was in the right. Apparently more than the students need instruction at Marquette.
Comments are closed.
