THERE ARE LEGAL RISKS TO DEFAMING PEOPLE: Court upholds sanctions on professors who called peer ‘racist.’

Sanctions will stand against two liberal professors who labeled a peer and a conservative group “racist” for their views and activism, a judge ruled.

Tennessee Technical University professors Julia Gruber and Andrew Smith were rightly punished by Provost Lori Bruce for putting up fliers that called nursing professor Andrew Donadio a “racist,” federal judge Waverly Crenshaw ruled recently.

Provost Bruce wrote in her sanctions that the anonymous posters were clearly meant to “target one individual, a coworker, and a small group of students to threaten and harass and intimidate them, [and] to incite others to participate in the harassment.” The posters were anonymously distributed on campus in February 2021.

Donadio (pictured, with student leader Gittle Sciolis) is involved with the campus Turning Point USA group, which Gruber and Smith also accused of racism through their fliers.

“I’m heartened for the Provost’s and University’s victory,” Professor Donadio told The College Fix.

Donadio also noted that to his knowledge, he has “never had a spoken word with either of them.” He declined further comments due to the “possibility of legal action.”

The accusations came as a result of Donadio’s public support for keeping the “Redskins” mascot of a local school as well as his work as the campus advisor for Turning Point USA. Donadio is also a Republican Putnam County commissioner.

I would not be surprised if he sued. I think I would, in his shoes.