School Spotlight
Linfield University
Speech Code Rating
- At present, FIRE does not maintain information on this school's policies.
Linfield University: Professor Investigated for Personal Social Media Posts Emphasizing Tensions Between English and Business Departments
March 24, 2022
On March 22, Linfield informed English professor Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt she would be investigated for professionalism based on posts on her personal social media accounts depicting quotes from two prominent businessmen about literature and having been English majors. FIRE wrote Linfield on March 24 explaining that launching an investigation into protected expression violates the university’s promises… Read more
Linfield University: Tenured Professor Terminated Without Due Process for Criticizing University
April 28, 2021
On March 29, 2021, Linfield University professor Daniel Pollack-Pelzner posted a Twitter thread criticizing the university for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse allegations. Pollack-Pelzner also accused Linfield president Miles K. Davis of making anti-Semitic remarks, which Davis denied. On April 27, Linfield abruptly fired Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured professor, without due process, citing “false public accusations that… Read more
Linfield College: Student Group’s Event Canceled Due to Speaker’s Tweet
June 30, 2017
On April 18, 2017, University of Toronto professor Dr. Jordan Peterson tweeted that he would be “violating some more safe spaces soon” at Linfield College.
AAUP censures Linfield University for blatant academic freedom violations
June 22, 2022
This spring, as I wrote for Newsdesk, the American Association of University Professors issued a damning report on Linfield University’s abrupt firing of tenured Shakespeare scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner in response to his criticisms of the university’s leadership. The report seemed all but certain to set the AAUP on a path to censure Linfield at its… Read more
AAUP investigation lays bare Linfield University’s disregard for free expression and due process
April 21, 2022
One of the more shocking affronts to faculty free expression and due process rights in recent years was Linfield University’s termination of Shakespeare scholar Daniel Pollack-Pelzner — a termination that is now the subject of an unsparing investigative report from the American Association of University Professors. Linfield summarily fired Pollack-Pelzner last April after he publicly… Read more
Linfield University finally drops bogus investigation of professor who still doesn’t know the allegations against her
April 20, 2022
Almost a month after Linfield University launched an investigation into English professor Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt, the university says the investigation is over and that it will take no further action. Dutt-Ballerstadt, however, still doesn’t know the university’s justification for investigating her. The welcome development in this vexing case comes less than a week after the American… Read more
Linfield says employee complaints are SO confidential the university can’t even tell professor why she’s being investigated
April 6, 2022
Why is Linfield University investigating English professor Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt? Today, she enters a third week as the subject of a major university inquiry — complete with an outside investigator — still awaiting an answer to that most basic question. Linfield told Dutt-Ballerstadt it commissioned an investigation of her late last month, a few days after… Read more
Linfield’s ludicrous justification for investigating professor’s social media posts earns second letter from FIRE
March 28, 2022
Linfield University is resisting FIRE’s calls to end its investigation into English professor Reshmi Dutt-Ballerstadt for her social media posts. In step with Linfield’s sloppy handling of other free speech controversies, its attorney’s response to FIRE doubles down on the school’s refusal to provide the professor even the most basic information about the nature of… Read more
Linfield launches investigation of professor’s posts praising English majors, suggesting tensions between English and business departments
March 24, 2022
Less than a year after Linfield University fired a tenured professor without due process because he criticized Linfield’s handling of sexual assault and harassment allegations, the university is at it again: this time, investigating a professor for her social media posts that praised English majors and criticized the business school’s takeover of the building housing… Read more
10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2022
February 2, 2022
There’s no shortage of colleges and universities that will go to great lengths to stifle free speech. Some institutions are worse than others, which is why each year for over a decade, FIRE compiles a list of the worst-of-the-worst. Since our first list in 2011, FIRE has named and shamed 80 institutions in 33 statesfor… Read more
Linfield University sued over process-free termination of tenured professor, Daniel Pollack-Pelzner
July 16, 2021
A frozen laptop screen, an error message, then an automated reply from his own university email account announcing that he was no longer employed at Linfield University. That’s the total process — a generous description — that Daniel Pollack-Pelzner, a tenured professor, received after criticizing Linfield’s senior leadership, who summarily terminated him in what they… Read more
Linfield University president: I did not know there were rules for firing tenured faculty
April 30, 2021
As the fallout continues over Linfield University’s summary termination of a tenured professor — with no process whatsoever — the Chronicle of Higher Education’s new story on the controversy is a must-read. As FIRE detailed yesterday, Linfield University’s senior leadership abruptly terminated Daniel Pollack-Pelzner after he criticized the university’s handling of sexual assault and harassment… Read more
Tenured professor abruptly fired after raising allegations of anti-Semitic speech by Linfield University’s president
April 29, 2021
MCMINNVILLE, Ore., April 29, 2021 — A university embroiled in sexual abuse scandals has abruptly fired a tenured professor who criticized the handling of those controversies and alleged that the university’s president and chair of its Board of Trustees made anti-Semitic comments. In the process, Linfield University shamelessly conceded that it afforded the professor no… Read more
Does Linfield College respect freedom of expression? We asked — and Linfield didn’t answer
June 30, 2017
In its “Anti-Harassment Protection and Academic Freedom” policy, Linfield College states that “[a]ll members of the college are entitled to use speech to convey disagreement, agreement, inquiry, or commentary in keeping with the principles underlying constitutionally protected free expression.” That’s an admirable commitment from a private university not required to uphold the First Amendment —… Read more