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SUNY Fredonia Punishes Professor for Political Expression

果冻传媒app官方

BUFFALO, N.Y., July 24, 2006鈥擜 professor at the State University of New York, Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) has been denied promotion for publicly disagreeing with the university鈥檚 student conduct policies and affirmative action practices. SUNY Fredonia鈥檚 president later agreed to approve the promotion only if the professor would submit all of his public writings to prior university review. Professor Stephen Kershnar declined the offer and sought help from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (果冻传媒app官方).

鈥淧rofessors must be able to publicly and frankly express their opinions if the 鈥榤arketplace of ideas鈥 is to survive,鈥 stated FIREPresident Greg Lukianoff. 鈥淪UNY Fredonia鈥檚 bungling attempt to suppress a professor鈥檚 criticism of university policies is both reprehensible and embarrassing.鈥

Kershnar, an associate professor of philosophy, was nominated for promotion to full professor in January 2006, with strong support from his colleagues, department head, and top administrators, because of his outstanding professional record. An outspoken member of the Fredonia community, Kershnar writes a bi-weekly column for the local newspaper, in which he questioned Fredonia鈥檚 affirmative action practices and examined the lack of conservatives in higher education. In 2005, Kershnar publicly condemned a new rule that targets students who fail to report violations of the student conduct code. He was quoted in a Buffalo News article saying the new policy would 鈥渢urn the student population into a group of snitches.鈥

SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner issued a letter to the university community defending the conduct policy against 鈥渕edia misrepresentations.鈥 Kershnar e-mailed the SUNY Fredonia faculty e-mail list on the following day to say that he had criticized鈥攏ot misrepresented鈥攖he policy. Hefner replied to that e-mail by warning Kershnar, 鈥淵ou need to start acting like a responsible member of this campus community.鈥

On April 27, Hefner sent Kershnar a letter denying his promotion. Hefner explained that although Kershnar鈥檚 鈥渢eaching has been described as excellent,鈥 he would not be promoted because of his 鈥渄eliberate and repeated misrepresentations of campus policies and procedures鈥o the media,鈥 which Hefner claimed 鈥渋mpugned the reputation of SUNY Fredonia.鈥

Kershnar told FIREthat at a later meeting, Hefner suggested that he would approve the promotion if Kershnar agreed to refrain from such statements in the future. In response, Kershnar drafted a contract to be in effect for one year, during which time he would submit his written materials to a 鈥淧rior-Consent Committee,鈥 consisting of two other professors who would decide if his statements deliberately misrepresented the university. Hefner rejected Kershnar鈥檚 version of the contract, substituting a more stringent contract that would be in effect for an indefinite period of time, and that required Kershnar to get 鈥渦nanimous consent鈥 from a university committee for all writing regarding the university to ensure 鈥渢he avoidance of any future misrepresentations鈥 of campus practices.

鈥淧resident Hefner should have immediately understood that requiring a professor to submit his opinions to university review flatly violated SUNY Fredonia鈥檚 obligations to uphold the First Amendment, but Hefner demanded that Kershnar give up even more of his basic rights,鈥 said Lukianoff.

Kershnar refused to sign this contract and contacted 果冻传媒app官方, which wrote a letter to Hefner on July 7 castigating him for the unjust and illiberal actions against Kershnar. On July 19, Hefner responded to 果冻传媒app官方鈥檚 letter, insisting that SUNY Fredonia 鈥渢akes seriously its legal obligations as a public university,鈥 but refusing to comment on Kershnar鈥檚 case. However, on July 20, Hefner sent another letter to Kershnar denying his promotion, this time with the references to misrepresentation removed.

鈥淧resident Hefner made Kershnar鈥檚 academic promotion鈥攚hich should by all accounts be based upon his merits as a professor鈥攄ependent upon his public statements about the university,鈥 Lukianoff stated. 鈥湽炒絘pp官方, along with others who care about academic freedom, will not stand idly by as a public university punishes a professor for speaking his mind and then requires him to relinquish his constitutional and moral right to express his opinions.鈥

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals from across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process, freedom of expression, academic freedom, and rights of conscience at our nation鈥檚 colleges and universities.

CONTACT:

Greg Lukianoff, President, 果冻传媒app官方: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org

Dennis L. Hefner, President, SUNY Fredonia: 716-673-3456; hefner@fredonia.edu

John R. Ryan, Chancellor, SUNY: 518-443-5355; chancellor@suny.edu

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