The Volokh Conspiracy - Good Turn in a Very Troubling Academic Case:

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports:

In a dramatic turn of events, the State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) has promoted the embattled Professor Stephen Kershnar to full professor....

As FIRE reported last month, Kershnar was nominated for promotion to full professor with abundant support from his colleagues and superiors. SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner nevertheless denied the promotion. Hefner explained that although Kershnar's "teaching has been described as excellent," he would not be promoted because of his "deliberate and repeated misrepresentations of campus policies and procedures…to the media," which Hefner claimed "impugned the reputation of SUNY Fredonia." The supposed "misrepresentations" referred to Kershnar's bi-weekly opinion columns in the local Dunkirk-Fredonia Observer and his public criticism of a student conduct policy. The university presented absolutely no evidence, however, that Kershnar ever actually misrepresented the university.

When Hefner suggested to Kershnar that refraining from such statements in the future would help his chances for promotion, Kershnar offered to submit his writings to prior review for a year. Hefner suggested instead that Kershnar sign an even harsher contract that would be in effect for an indefinite period of time and that would require Kershnar to get "unanimous consent" from a university committee for all writing regarding the university to ensure "the avoidance of any future misrepresentations" of campus practices.

Kershnar refused Hefner's illiberal and unconstitutional arrangement and contacted FIRE. On July 7, FIRE wrote a letter to Hefner criticizing his actions. Hefner responded in a letter dated July 20 by upholding the denial of promotion to Kershnar.... [But within days after] articles appear[ed] in the New York Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed[,] ... SUNY Fredonia administrators informed Kershnar that they would reevaluate his promotion....

I hadn't had a chance to blog about the matter earlier, but I had looked into the underlying documents (which are pointed to here), and my tentative sense was that FIRE's reaction was quite right -- the professor was being faulted for publicly expressing views with which the university president disagreed, and not for any actual misrepresentations. I'm very pleased that everything ultimately turned out well.

	[Eugene Volokh, August 14, 2006 at 1:50pm] Trackbacks Good Turn in a Very Troubling Academic Case: The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports: In a dramatic turn of events, the State University of New York at Fredonia (SUNY Fredonia) has promoted the embattled Professor Stephen Kershnar to full professor.... As FIRE reported last month, Kershnar was nominated for promotion to full professor with abundant support from his colleagues and superiors. SUNY Fredonia President Dennis L. Hefner nevertheless denied the promotion. Hefner explained that although Kershnar's "teaching has been described as excellent," he would not be promoted because of his "deliberate and repeated misrepresentations of campus policies and procedures…to the media," which Hefner claimed "impugned the reputation of SUNY Fredonia." The supposed "misrepresentations" referred to Kershnar's bi-weekly opinion columns in the local Dunkirk-Fredonia Observer and his public criticism of a student conduct policy. The university presented absolutely no evidence, however, that Kershnar ever actually misrepresented the university. When Hefner suggested to Kershnar that refraining from such statements in the future would help his chances for promotion, Kershnar offered to submit his writings to prior review for a year. Hefner suggested instead that Kershnar sign an even harsher contract that would be in effect for an indefinite period of time and that would require Kershnar to get "unanimous consent" from a university committee for all writing regarding the university to ensure "the avoidance of any future misrepresentations" of campus practices. Kershnar refused Hefner's illiberal and unconstitutional arrangement and contacted FIRE. On July 7, FIRE wrote a letter to Hefner criticizing his actions. Hefner responded in a letter dated July 20 by upholding the denial of promotion to Kershnar.... [But within days after] articles appear[ed] in the New York Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed[,] ... SUNY Fredonia administrators informed Kershnar that they would reevaluate his promotion.... I hadn't had a chance to blog about the matter earlier, but I had looked into the underlying documents (which are pointed to here), and my tentative sense was that FIRE's reaction was quite right -- the professor was being faulted for publicly expressing views with which the university president disagreed, and not for any actual misrepresentations. I'm very pleased that everything ultimately turned out well.