'Pundit' prof vindicated

Bill Bumpas and Jody Brown
OneNewsNow
4/7/2011

Attorneys for a Christian professor in North Carolina are celebrating a decision handed down by an appellate court, calling it a victory for academic freedom.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys argued that criminology professor Mike Adams was unconstitutionally denied a promotion at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington because school officials were hostile to the political views he delivered in his columns and speeches.

A lower court had ruled against Dr. Adams, saying his comments on matters of public concern constituted "official" speech as part of his job duties as a criminology professor at UNC-Wilmington -- and therefore were not protected by the First Amendment. But now the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found that Adams' writings and speeches are protected by the First Amendment, and that if Adams winds up winning his case against the university, school officials could be held personally liable for damages. the rest

"No individual loses his ability to speak as a private citizen by virtue of public employment," wrote the court. "Adams' columns addressed topics such as academic freedom, civil rights, campus culture, sex, feminism, abortion, homosexuality, religion, and morality. Such topics plainly touched on issues of public, rather than private, concern."