A state court in North Carolina has sent education officials there who censored a professor’s speech to trial for their actions.
The decision means that the case over David Phillips’ claims that his constitutional rights were violated when he was fired him for his opinions and speech can advance.
The announcement comes from the ADF, which is working on the case.
The officials had tried to have the case dismissed, but the court opinion rejected the bulk of their arguments.
The dispute was over his criticism of a racially divisive ideology being taught by the North Carolina Governor’s School, and the decision by officials there to dismiss him.
“Teachers shouldn’t be fired for fostering intellectual diversity on campus. The Governor’s School claims to be an academic environment committed to exploring a wide range of differing viewpoints, yet Dr. Phillips couldn’t express his views without punishment,” explained lawyer Hal Frampton.
He argued the case in Wake County Superior Court.
“There is no lawful explanation for the way these public school officials treated Dr. Phillips, and the court has rightly allowed his case to proceed. He was beloved, respected, and well-regarded by both students and faculty as an advocate for students who felt that their voices weren’t being heard and their perspectives weren’t welcomed at the Governor’s School. The school violated Dr. Phillips’ constitutional right to free speech and unlawfully retaliated against him for deviating from the school’s ideological orthodoxy.”
According to the ADF, he was an English professor who spent eight summers teaching a residential summer program for the state’s most-talented high school seniors.
But he also spoke out against the school’s increasing use of the racist “Critical Race Theory,” which argues that all of America is racist and that more racism is needed to fix the problem.
The ADF said Phillips delivered three optional seminars in June 2021 critiquing the ideology, and he was fired without explanation.
One of the topics addressed was the growing ideological bias and lack of viewpoint diversity in higher education.
“Following these lectures, a group of students and staff members reacted with open hostility, referencing race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion in their comments and questions,” the ADF reported.
He was refused any explanation for his dismissal.
This article was originally published by the WND News Center.
This post originally appeared on WND News Center.