Is Academic Freedom Seeing A Bit Of Light?

Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with conservative professor who was fired

July 8, 2018 by Jerry McCormick

Image via Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.com

A major blow to how liberals are running today’s classrooms was landed in Wisconsin.

After a conservative-oriented professor at Marquette University, John McAdams, was dismissed for calling out a student-teacher, Cheryl Abbate, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled he must now be reinstated.

The Debate

The incident revolved around how a student-instructor handled a discussion involving gay rights.

When coming to gay rights, she stated, “everybody agrees on this, and there is no need to discuss it.”

One of the conservative students in the group approached her after class disputing that stance.

According to a blog post by McAdams, the student said she was setting a terrible precedent in the class by allowing her personal views to infiltrate the lectures.

McAdams reportedly named the student-instructor in his post, which is why the university said he was dismissed.

Afterwards, the student-instructor reportedly received numerous threats, the root of why McAdams was reportedly dismissed.

An attorney for Marquette University stated: “Had he written the exact same blog post and not included the student-teacher’s name and contact information, he would not have been disciplined.”

He continued: “He’s being disciplined for his conduct, not any viewpoint.”

The Aftermath

After the blog was posted, McAdams was immediately disciplined.

He was initially suspended and told he had to apologize.

McAdams case was immediately taken up by conservatives, most notably Laura Ingraham.

While making an appearance on her Fox News show, McAdams stated: “They told me they would reinstate me if I apologized and promised to conform to Marquette’s supposed ‘guiding values.’ Of course, I think I am more loyal to Marquette’s guiding values than the administration of Marquette University.”

He continued: “But of course, this is Stalinist stuff. I’m not going to apologize.”

Is This a Major Victory for Conservatives?

• Yes
• No

The University, of course, denies that he was being forced to publicly apologize to anyone, but rather, told to take responsibility for his actions and to “privately express regret for the harm suffered by our student teacher.”

When the ruling was handed down, it was considered a major victory not just for conservatives, but also for academic freedom.