|
||
|
||
Tyranny on Trial at Virginia State UniversityMay 18, 2001 FIRE Press Release Petersburg, VA-A professor at Virginia State University is preparing for an August 29 trial that will play a major role in shaping the free speech and associational rights of faculty at our colleges and universities. "This is a case," said Thor Halvorssen, the executive director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), "that should concern not only the citizens of Virginia but all individuals who care about liberty and dignity." Professor Jean Cobbs-who laid the foundation for academic excellence in her field of Social Work at VSU, only to have her rights denied, her person and her dignity assaulted, and her nationally prominent program taken from her and destroyed-is approaching her moment of justice, supported by a major ruling by the Virginia Twelfth Circuit Trial Court. What had Jean Cobbs done to receive such abusive treatment? She had dared to think for herself and to exercise the rights guaranteed to her by the constitution and laws of a free society. She is a black scholar who, her administration discovered, is a Republican, an unpardonable sin at this public university supported by the taxpayers of Virginia. VSU, under its current imperious and arrogant administration, has a sad and costly record of punishing political dissenters. Once one of the leading historically black universities, VSU has now become the enemy of the liberty, legal equality, individual rights, and dignity of black Americans. In an unusually long, detailed, and tightly reasoned opinion released earlier this year, Virginia Twelfth Circuit Trial Judge Herbert C. Gill, Jr. issued a ruling in the lawsuit brought by Professor Cobbs against the Commonwealth of Virginia and a number of administrators at VSU, letting stand almost all of her complaints. Jean Cobbs' lawsuit claims that VSU administrators, in a long series of actions, have thwarted and compromised her teaching, her administration of the highly successful social work program that she established, and her very ability to function successfully and normally in a professional capacity. These administrators, her suit seeks to demonstrate, have sought to penalize her for not conforming to their concept of what political views and behaviors a black American should espouse and practice. Judge Gill denied the defendants' demurrer, or motion to dismiss the complaint, letting stand the heart of Professor Cobbs' claims for defamation, wrongful and damaging interference with employment and economic opportunities, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, racial discrimination in violation of federally protected civil rights, and constitutional violations of freedom of speech and association. The lawsuit now will proceed to discovery and to trial. The administrators named as defendants in the case had asked the court to dismiss Professor Cobbs' complaint, filing, under Virginia law, a "demurrer." Such a motion argued that even if what Professor Cobbs claimed had been done to her were true, no statute, common law doctrine, nor constitutional standard prohibited the administration from treating her in such a fashion. For example, they claimed that her charge of racial discrimination did not apply in this case, because Professor Cobbs' allegations concerned "political affiliation, which Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act] does not protect." However, the judge let the claim stand, recognizing that if a black Republican were treated differently from a white Republican, the administrators' alleged conduct indeed might well have centered on the issue of race. Professor Cobbs' claim, after all, was that the school's discrimination against her was based on the fact that she was, in VSU's eyes, a black citizen who did not submit to the political views that the university administration would impose as "correct." Judge Gill left the matter for a jury to decide. Judge Gill's ruling means that Professor Cobbs' attorney, Harris D. Butler of the Richmond law firm of Butler, Williams, Pantele & Skilling, will now be able to question university officials under oath and proceed to obtain and examine relevant files and documents. FIRE's legal team has been working cooperatively in assisting Attorney Butler. This is not the first time that VSU has been in legal difficulty over charges of denying the rights and dignities of black professors whose politics displease its administration. In recent cases similar to that of Jean Cobbs, VSU has been ordered to pay $1.7 million to professors wrongfully treated for their political affiliations, and an undisclosed sum in an out-of-court settlement. This should be a moral, political, and fiscal scandal to the citizens of Virginia, who are footing the bill. FIRE's Thor Halvorssen observed: "Eddie Moore is the president of VSU and the key actor in these dramas, and despite the catastrophic ethical, legal, and financial costs that he has imposed upon his university, the VSU Board of Visitors just voted him a bonus of $26,000 for what they described as the excellence of his job as president." "It is time to let the sunlight in at VSU. The right to choose one's beliefs and affiliations is a sacred right, and it is under severe peril at an institution whose lawless administration must be held accountable," Halvorssen urged. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is a nonprofit educational foundation. FIRE unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, freedom of expression, the rights of conscience, and religious liberty on our campuses. FIRE's website, www.thefire.org, offers additional materials on the case of Jean Cobbs, and it explains in depth FIRE's views of the assault on liberty and dignity in higher education.
Contact: Current Press Contacts (2006) Greg Lukianoff, President, FIRE: 215-717-3473; greg_lukianoff@thefire.org |
||
| Privacy Policy | © 2008 | ||
