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AAUP censures University of Nebraska-Lincoln for wrongfully terminating graduate instructor
At its annual conference this past weekend in the Washington, D.C., area, the American Association of University Professors the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for terminating the teaching duties of graduate student Courtney Lawton following a verbal argument with an undergraduate. The AAUP鈥檚 censure comes on the heels of an AAUP for its handling of Lawton鈥檚 case.
The UNL case goes back to August 2017, when Lawton confronted a UNL undergraduate who had set up a table in an outdoor area to recruit members for a prospective chapter of the conservative group, Turning Point USA. When Lawton saw the recruiting effort, she held a demonstration of her own, waving signs and accusing TPUSA, and its recruiter, of 鈥渘eo-fascism鈥 and 鈥渉at[ing] DACA kids.鈥 When the recruiter 鈥 who turned out to be a student at the university 鈥 began filming Lawton, Lawton displayed the middle finger. Lawton鈥檚 criticisms were harsh, but were also well within the bounds of speech protected by the First Amendment.
After video of the dispute went viral, UNL removed Lawton from her teaching duties for alleged 鈥渟ecurity reasons.鈥滱lmost simultaneously with its invocation of Lawton鈥檚 security, however, UNL accused her of unprofessional behavior in violation of its 鈥淎cademic Responsibility鈥 policy. In taking this harder line against Lawton UNL may have been influenced by members of Nebraska鈥檚 legislature, several of whom criticized UNL for the incident, with some calling for Lawton to be fired and others accusing it of creating a hostile environment for conservative students.
Like the AAUP, FIREhas been critical of how UNL has handled this matter. We wrote to UNL in December arguing that Lawton鈥檚 termination violated her First Amendment rights, and calling for her teaching duties to be reinstated. While the University of Nebraska system has since taken the praiseworthy step of adopting a new Commitment to Free Expression, the AAUP鈥檚 censure testifies to the ongoing chilling effect of Lawton鈥檚 punishment.
Readers can check out our December 2017 letter to UNL, as well as the , for more background on the case.
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