The Wall Street Journal covers Professor John McAdams’ Wisconsin Supreme Court win in his academic freedom case against Marquette University.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that Marquette University was out of line to discipline a tenured professor for something he wrote online that resulted in threats against another instructor, reversing a lower court decision.
The ruling hands a victory to advocates of a broad definition for academic freedom, though the court’s focus on what it determined were flawed disciplinary proceedings at the university may have implications for other private employers outside academia.
In the 4-2 decision, with one other judge not participating, the court determined that Marquette breached its contract with political science professor John McAdams after suspending him for a November 2014 blog post that he said was protected speech, but that the school argued crossed the line to an unprofessional attack.