Where a college professor alleged that he was subjected to adverse employment actions in retaliation for protected speech, but two of the communications weren’t protected, and there was no causal connection between the third communication and the alleged retaliation, his suit was dismissed.
Background
Stephen Porter has been a tenured professor at North Carolina State University, or NCSU, since 2011. He alleges that he has been outspoken in recent years concerning the focus on “so-called ‘social justice’ affecting academia in general” and “his concern that the field of higher education study is abandoning rigorous methodological analysis in favor of results-driven work aimed at furthering a highly dogmatic view of ‘diversity,’ ‘equity,’ and ‘inclusion.’” In this vein, appellant identifies three statements or communications he made between 2016 and 2018 which, in his view, are protected speech. According to appellant, he was eventually subject to adverse employment actions in retaliation for these three communications.
The district court held — and appellant does not dispute — that his claims for damages against the Board of Trustees and the individual defendants in their official capacities are barred by sovereign and Eleventh Amendment immunity. The court also determined that appellant’s “requests for injunctive relief regarding his permission to join the new Higher Education Opportunity, Equity, and Justice Program Area of Study and the removal of the requirement that he...
"The election poster for a Reform Party candidate running for Seoul's Gwangjin District Council is written entirely in Chinese. Is this China?" says part of a Korean-language Facebook post shared ...