Fired Calif. Professor Exonerated
In Settlement Of Lawsuit Against San Jose College District
Case Settles After Court Affirms Teachers’ First
Amendment Rights In The Classroom
SAN JOSE, California, July 22, 2010— Alliance
Defense Fund attorneys have reached a settlement with
the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District in
a lawsuit filed on behalf of a biology professor. Professor
June Sheldon was fired after objectively answering
a student’s in-class question simply because
a different student claimed to be “offended” by
her answer, even though it comported with the official
class curriculum and a district policy on academic
freedom.
ADF attorneys agreed to dismiss the suit because the
district has agreed to remove Sheldon’s termination
from her record and pay her $100,000 for lost work. The
district argued that its professors have no free speech
rights in the classroom, but a federal court rejected
that argument and determined that “a teacher’s
instructional speech is protected by the First Amendment.” Sheldon
is now teaching at a different college.
“Professors shouldn’t be fired simply for
doing their jobs as educators. Professionally
addressing both sides of an academic issue according
to the class curriculum is not grounds for dismissal;
it’s what a professor is supposed to do,” said
ADF Litigation Staff Counsel David J. Hacker. “This
is a favorable settlement for Ms. Sheldon, but we remain
concerned, for the sake of all faculty members, about
the district’s view of academic freedom, as expressed
in court, in contradiction to its policy.”
Sheldon, an experienced adjunct professor who taught
a human heredity course at San Jose City College, answered
a student’s inquiry in June 2007 about how heredity
affects homosexual behavior. She briefly introduced
positions on both sides of the issue that was to be
explored in a later class. In her response, she
cited the class textbook, as well as the research of
a well-known German scientist referred to by a website
provided in the textbook, explaining that the issue
is currently being debated in the scientific community. The
school launched an investigation after a different
student lodged an informal complaint that deemed Sheldon’s
comments “offensive and unscientific.” Sheldon
was recommended for removal from the adjunct seniority
rehire preference list and terminated by the district’s
board of trustees in February 2008.
The district’s “Academic
Freedom” policy states, “The common
good depends on the free search for truth and its free
expression; to this end, faculty and students hold
the right of full freedom of inquiry and expression. Academic
freedom is essential to these purposes and applies
to both teaching and research. Freedom is fundamental
to the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching
and of the student in learning.... The instructor
has the right to study and investigate, interpret his/her
findings and express resulting conclusions to students.... Because
human knowledge is limited and changeable, the instructor
may present views which are controversial and evaluate
opinions held by others while simultaneously respecting
and valuing their right of their free expression.”
At the same time, the district argued in a brief that
Sheldon “is an employee and does not have a First
Amendment cause of action for the Defendants’ regulation
of her in-class speech” and that the district “must
be able to control the in class conduct and speech
of those teachers.”
ADF attorneys filed
the lawsuitSheldon v. Dhillon in
June 2008 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, San Jose Division. Kevin
Snider and Matt McReynolds of Pacific Justice Institute,
two of nearly 1,800 attorneys in the ADF alliance,
also represented Sheldon in the suit.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys
and like-minded organizations defending the right of
people to freely live out their faith. Launched
in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy,
training, funding, and litigation to protect and
preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage,
and the family.
# # #
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Alliance Defense Fund
15333 North Pima Road Suite 165
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
Phone: 1-800-TELL-ADF
Fax: 480-444-0025
Website: www.alliancedefensefund.org
Case Settles After Court Affirms Teachers’ First Amendment Rights In The Classroom
SAN JOSE, California, July 22, 2010— Alliance
Defense Fund attorneys have reached a settlement with
the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District in
a lawsuit filed on behalf of a biology professor. Professor
June Sheldon was fired after objectively answering
a student’s in-class question simply because
a different student claimed to be “offended” by
her answer, even though it comported with the official
class curriculum and a district policy on academic
freedom.
ADF attorneys agreed to dismiss the suit because the
district has agreed to remove Sheldon’s termination
from her record and pay her $100,000 for lost work. The
district argued that its professors have no free speech
rights in the classroom, but a federal court rejected
that argument and determined that “a teacher’s
instructional speech is protected by the First Amendment.” Sheldon
is now teaching at a different college.
“Professors shouldn’t be fired simply for
doing their jobs as educators. Professionally
addressing both sides of an academic issue according
to the class curriculum is not grounds for dismissal;
it’s what a professor is supposed to do,” said
ADF Litigation Staff Counsel David J. Hacker. “This
is a favorable settlement for Ms. Sheldon, but we remain
concerned, for the sake of all faculty members, about
the district’s view of academic freedom, as expressed
in court, in contradiction to its policy.”
Sheldon, an experienced adjunct professor who taught
a human heredity course at San Jose City College, answered
a student’s inquiry in June 2007 about how heredity
affects homosexual behavior. She briefly introduced
positions on both sides of the issue that was to be
explored in a later class. In her response, she
cited the class textbook, as well as the research of
a well-known German scientist referred to by a website
provided in the textbook, explaining that the issue
is currently being debated in the scientific community. The
school launched an investigation after a different
student lodged an informal complaint that deemed Sheldon’s
comments “offensive and unscientific.” Sheldon
was recommended for removal from the adjunct seniority
rehire preference list and terminated by the district’s
board of trustees in February 2008.
The district’s “Academic
Freedom” policy states, “The common
good depends on the free search for truth and its free
expression; to this end, faculty and students hold
the right of full freedom of inquiry and expression. Academic
freedom is essential to these purposes and applies
to both teaching and research. Freedom is fundamental
to the protection of the rights of the teacher in teaching
and of the student in learning.... The instructor
has the right to study and investigate, interpret his/her
findings and express resulting conclusions to students.... Because
human knowledge is limited and changeable, the instructor
may present views which are controversial and evaluate
opinions held by others while simultaneously respecting
and valuing their right of their free expression.”
At the same time, the district argued in a brief that
Sheldon “is an employee and does not have a First
Amendment cause of action for the Defendants’ regulation
of her in-class speech” and that the district “must
be able to control the in class conduct and speech
of those teachers.”
ADF attorneys filed
the lawsuitSheldon v. Dhillon in
June 2008 with the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California, San Jose Division. Kevin
Snider and Matt McReynolds of Pacific Justice Institute,
two of nearly 1,800 attorneys in the ADF alliance,
also represented Sheldon in the suit.
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
# # #
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Alliance Defense Fund
15333 North Pima Road Suite 165
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
Phone: 1-800-TELL-ADF
Fax: 480-444-0025
Website: www.alliancedefensefund.org