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UNC Wilmington trustee pressures university to punish professor over ā€˜Blow up Republicansā€™ post

The uproar over the professor's post follows the Board of Trusteesā€™ balking at Nikole Hannah-Jonesā€™ tenure bid at UNC Chapel Hill and the Board of Governorsā€™ refusal to reappoint a law professor to a UNC Press post, allegedly due to his criticism of the board. (Grindstone Media Group / Shutterstock.com)

For the third in the last several months, a trustee in the University of North Carolina system is placing political pressure on their institution because of protected, if controversial, speech. 

This time, the blowup is at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where a trustee appointed by the stateā€™s legislature is pressuring administrators to conduct an investigation and take action against a professor over a

That professor, Dan Johnson, has since deleted the post, and the university that it had ā€œacted on the information in a timely and appropriate mannerā€ and that the ā€œfaculty member expressed deep remorse and deleted the post.ā€

That post is protected by the First Amendment. Even if itā€™s construed as literally calling for violence ā€” and not as figurative speech hyperbolically calling for the end of the Republican Party ā€” it does not meet the legal standards for unprotected true threats or incitement. As weā€™ve explained time and time again, political expression often uses themes of violence, but that does not make it a threat.

Although UNCW administrators correctly determined as much, at least one trustee isnā€™t satisfied. Trustee Woody White told he believes Dan Johnson, the associate professor at UNCWā€™s School of Health and Applied Human Sciences whose post drew public anger, should be investigated ā€” or sent to ā€œsensitivity trainingā€ ā€” for the post. Yesterday, he that more should be done:

In an email, UNCW Board of Trustees member White said an investigation by the chancellor ā€œis necessary to reveal the context with which the post was made. What prompted it? How long was it up and what caused it to be taken down? ... What assurance do we have that, in the future, students coming into his class will be welcome regardless of their political affiliation? These are important questions.ā€

So far, White ā€” who stopped short of saying Johnson should resign or be fired ā€” is the only board of trustees member to call for an investigation into the matter.

White said that even though UNCW found Johnsonā€™s post not to be a ā€œtrue threatā€ in its statement, ā€œThe words he chose to post called for violence. Violence against people with whom he disagrees. That is unacceptable commentary, even if it was impulsive and even if he is sorry for it now. I am encouraged that he is sorry about it, but in the absence of more information, no one knows how he meant it or why he posted it.ā€

White admitted that itā€™s ā€œunlikelyā€ that Johnsonā€™s post ā€œcrossed the legal line (for First Amendment freedoms) established by the (Supreme) Court, but in my opinion he certainly crossed the line, by a long distance, of what is appropriate and expected from professors.ā€

°Ā³ó¾±³Ł±šā€™s about the matter seem to suggest that he is aggrieved that institutions of higher education have censored or pressured conservative faculty members. Thatā€™s certainly true ā€” Mike Adams, a perennial source of controversy at UNCW, successfully sued the university to defend his First Amendment rights, leading to a that protected not only Adams, but faculty across the Fourth Circuit. (Adams was represented by former FIREPresident David French; FIREjoined an amicus curiae brief in support.) 

And then there was the incident last year involving Professor Adams that surely must be affecting the reaction to that of Professor Johnson: UNCWā€™s institutional reaction to Adamsā€™ May 29, 2020, tweet addressing state governor Roy Cooper that compared North Carolinaā€™s COVID-19 restrictions to slavery, writing ā€œMassa Cooper, let my people go!ā€ As FIREPresident and CEO Greg Lukianoff wrote, in a moving blog entry about Adams titled Professor Mike Adamsā€™ suicide will always haunt me

Mikeā€™s situation was a textbook cancellation: It was focused, intense, and demanded immediate termination. UNCW extended the olive branch of early retirement in order to that would follow an outright termination. On June 29, UNCW on that Adams would retire, effective August 1. That announcement triggered additional rage-filled responses, because Adams would receive a settlement of over $500,000 (which, given he had at least 10 more years to his career before normal retirement age, was a comparatively small amount). 

UNCWā€™s chancellor would the settlement on July 2, arguing that the last lawsuit UNCW incurred for unconstitutionally punishing Adamsā€™ freedom of expression ā€” the tenure fight ā€” cost roughly $700,000. For a school that desperately wanted to be rid of someone who was in his third decade of starting trouble at UNCW, a few hundred thousand dollars was a bargain.

Thereā€™s no suggestion that UNCW is planning to send Professor Johnson to an early retirement ā€” nor should it, of course. But itā€™s not hard to compare the administrationā€™s public versus its and detect a pretty strong difference not just in substance but in tone.  

White that ā€œ[w]hen we have the chance to move the needle toward one standard, we should do so.ā€ In this, he is manifestly correct. At a public institution such as UNCW, that standard is the First Amendment, and it is undermined when institutional leaders hedge on its robust protection of speech. Past institutional failures to defend othersā€™ rights must not be used to justify contemporary censorship. Justifying calls for unconstitutional censorship on the basis of applying the ā€œnew rulesā€ set by political opponents, holding them to their own standards, or simply teaching them a lesson make such calls no less unconstitutional and wrong. The tools of censorship are metaphorical "weapons" that anyone can pick up, and trying to do so in the name of rectifying mistreatment is more likely to just ratify their use. Applying the approach you claim to disdain doesnā€™t rectify mistreatment; it reinforces its use. Whatever UNCWā€™s past transgressions, it should not be faulted for coming to the defense of speech now.

But if White is only posturing, others have picked up the banner. Rep. Madison Cawthorn that Johnsonā€™s post is ā€œcriminalā€ (it is not) and strongly suggested he should be fired:

Johnson does have at least one defender. UNCW Student Government Association President Robert Fensom ā€” currently a FIREsummer intern ā€” was also quoted by local properly describing the post as protected political speech.

ā€œMy understanding of the status of Mr. Johnsonā€™s communication is that it is constitutionally protected speech,ā€ he said. ā€œIf that understanding is correct, then we should also acknowledge the chilling effect caused by investigations, an impact that would be felt both by [Professor] Johnson and the entire campus community.ā€ 

Trustees ā€” as agents of the state ā€” should not be pressuring the institutions they govern to curtail expression.

The pressure follows trusteesā€™ balking at Nikole Hannah-Jonesā€™ tenure bid at UNC Chapel Hill, and the Board of Governorsā€™ a law professor to a UNC Press post, allegedly due to his criticism of the boardā€™s handling of the Silent Sam controversy. (FIREhas written to UNC to raise questions about Hannah-Jonesā€™ tenure bid, but because the UNC Press post is an administrative role, it falls outside of our institutional purview, which is limited to defending the rights of students and faculty.)

Trustees ā€” as agents of the state ā€” should not be pressuring the institutions they govern to curtail expression. Thatā€™s why weā€™ve written a letter to the University of North Carolina Wilmingtonā€™s Board of Trustees, calling on the trustees to stick to the First Amendment, which protects the rights of faculty to engage as private citizens in speech that others find unmeasured, unwise, or objectionable. Whatever the grievances on either side might be, if UNCW is to avoid an endless tug-of-war that will do nothing but continue to chill campus expression and damage UNCWā€™s reputation, leaders on all sides must embrace principled consistency and defend freedom of speech, no matter the source.

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