Thread by @JeffreyASachs

Whenever a tenured professor gets fired for "free speech", it's a big deal. I didn't want to say anything without more info, but I'm ready at this point to offer a few quick thoughts. (THREAD)

I speak, of course, of Bruce Fleming. An English prof at the US Naval Academy, he was fired last month for his speech. Specifically, speech critical of the academy, its faculty, and its students. Example: he called his students "right-wing extremists".

capitalgazette.com/news/naval_aca…

Criticizing your students is disgusting behavior. I don't care if you teach English at the Naval Academy or politics at Marquette. It's shameful.

It is, however, constitutionally protected. At least at the Naval Academy. Cue the outrage, right?

Wrong. Further reports showed Fleming wasn't being entirely on the level. Documents released by the Academy revealed that he had, among other things, sent wildly inappropriate photos to his students.

washingtonpost.com/local/educatio…

The original claim about free speech was a red herring, a carefully constructed ploy (by his lawyer, perhaps?) to gin up sympathy among his fellow liberals. He believed, perhaps rightly, that absent any contradictory information, folks would assume he was a free speech martyr.

Look, I've read about 100+ cases involving faculty fired for what they claim was controversial speech. Some were telling the truth. Others were not. One thing I've learned is that controversial speech often - not always, but often! - is accompanied by controversial action.

Which, when you think about the controversial folks in your own life, is probably fairly obvious.

That's why, when someone like Fleming tells you he was fired for his speech, it pays to be very, very skeptical. Not dismissive, but not credulous either. The grift is real. /End