A UCLA prof sent his students an obnoxious email dismissing their request for an extension on the final exam due to the George Floyd protests. The students went nuclear and he has now been removed from the classroom. He has also received threats and needs police protection.
Just incredible stuff. Putting him on leave seems like a terrible move, at least if it's meant as some sort of punishment. This would be the moment for UCLA to affirm its respect for faculty speech, lest we have another Jeff Klinzman-type situation.
For those keeping track, there have been five speech-related firings/demotions so far in 2020: Phansey (Babson), Hiers (UNT), Winegard (Marietta), and Senjo (Weber State). Also Joe Mead (Cleveland State), if you include denied promotions. This puts us on track to match 2019.
Bad, and of course we still have the fall semester, but it's a still a huge drop compared to 2016-18. Is that because of stronger workplace protections? Faculty self-censorship? Threats of lawsuits? I don't know.
Other cases to watch: There's another case at UCLA involving a lecturer who mentioned the n-word in a pedagogical setting. Profs at UNC and Miami University both mocked BLM. And a Stanford dean quoted Assata Shakur. All but the first are likely safe, but we'll see.
