WUWM covers the oral arguments in Professor McAdams’ case against Marquette University:
Marquette disciplined the political science professor after he posted something on his conservative blog critical of a student teacher. McAdams has been suspended for more than three years, two of them without pay.
His attorney, Rick Esenberg, says the discipline amounts to a serious transgression of academic freedom, and the contract McAdams signed promises faculty academic freedom. He says professors won’t be terminated for conduct protected by the US Constitution, which in this case is the right to free speech.
Esenberg, who is the founder and president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, says he believes Marquette should abide by that commitment.
“The case I think is important because it’s an opportunity to affirm what academic freedom means that is that it provides faculty at universities with broad leeway to speak that is not subject to subjective after the fact scrutiny by the administration or their colleagues,” he says.