Saint Joseph鈥檚 University: Professor Suspended and Investigated for Tweets
Cases
Saint Joseph's University
Case Overview
On February 19, 2021, a Twitter user posted screenshots of tweets from the personal account of Saint Joseph鈥檚 University professor Gregory Manco. The tweets, about criticizing reparations for slavery and arguments about racism in the United States, led to calls for action by SJU, which responded on Twitter that it was 鈥渓ooking into鈥 the situation and suspended Manco pending an investigation. FIREwrote to SJU on February 23 explaining that Manco鈥檚 extramural expression is squarely within SJU鈥檚 promises that its faculty members enjoy freedom of expression, and calling on SJU to rescind Manco鈥檚 suspension and reaffirm its faculty鈥檚 rights to free expression. On May 12, an outside investigator concluded her investigation, finding that Manco did not violate any SJU policies.