The College Fix | Conservative professor worries academic freedom will be hurt if he settles free-speech lawsuit

The College Fix writes about Marquette’s Professor John McAdams:

“He has been a faculty member at Marquette for more than two decades, and he takes pride in fostering an environment of academic freedom within his classroom.

His reviews on RateMyProfessors.com provide evidence that his students love to learn from him, with an average score of 4.3 out of 5. Not a single review out of 36 casts McAdams in a negative light, and only a handful describe him as “average,” with former students highlighting his intellect and bright personality, the intriguing nature of his material and academic rigor of his classes.

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Since the core of his lawsuit is the freedom to express one’s thoughts and ideas without retaliation, McAdams told The Fix, he doesn’t want to lose that dynamic in his classroom.

He fears that in the future, as a side effect of Marquette’s action against him, students that disagree with his viewpoints, particularly liberal ones, may be less likely to speak out during discussion. McAdams added that he thinks that future classes may have a higher concentration of right-leaning students.

McAdams has “received dozens of emails from former students speaking out in support of me” since Marquette suspended him and started termination proceedings, he said. The negative feedback from students or others has been dwarfed by that of his well-wishers.”

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