A controversial professor suing his university in North Carolina won a key ruling Wednesday from a federal appeals court — and the decision could eventually benefit faculty members at all public institutions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the 2006 Supreme Court decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos — which limited the free speech rights of some public employees — does not apply to faculty members of public colleges and universities. . . . In the ruling that Wednesday’s decision overturned, a federal judge ruled that political columns written by Mike Adams, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, had no First Amendment protection in his dispute with the university, because he submitted some of the columns with his proposal for a promotion.
The idea that a professor’s op-eds had no First Amendment protections enraged many who monitor academic freedom issues. Adams received backing from the Alliance Defense Fund, which frequently defends the rights of religious students and faculty members, and the American Association of University Professors — two groups that have differed on many other issues.
In his suit, Adams charges that he was denied promotion to full professor because of his conservative, Christian views.
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