State University of New York at Cortland: English Professor Suspended for Assigning Students Magazine Writing Examples

In November 2023, SUNY Cortland suspended English Professor Mario Hernandez while investigating student complaints about his reading assignments. For decades, Hernandez assigned students wide-ranging examples of prominent writing in his introductory writing classes, including New Yorker magazine stories about voyeurism and sex offender registries, among other topics. SUNY Cortland’s investigation stretched for a year through November 2024, when Hernandez called FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund hotline for help. FLDF promptly connected him with FIRE Legal Network attorney Stephanie Adams, who defended Hernandez by explaining to the university how the First Amendment protects professors’ academic freedom to lecture, teach, and assign material relevant to their subject matter. On December 13, the university cleared and reinstated Hernandez.