[lbo-talk] Law and Tenure Revocation/Academic Dismissal

[Auguste Blanqui]

A question for the lawyers and some of the others... Does anyone know what
the legal precedent for tenure revocation and academic dismissal is?  I was
having an argument with someone on Churchill, and then the state of academic
freedom more generally, then wondered what legal grounds might exist for
formal job termination.  I don't know anything about academics, but I've
looked at the medical and legal professions, and the main issues that come
up are whether the behavior of the person was directly related to his or her
professional competence (politics wouldn't be) and the degree to which
internal professional proceedings are "internal" and not bound by due
process requirements.  Does anyone know of any major academic freedom cases
and how they played out?  I'm wondering what legal recourse an academic who
thought he or she was denied tenure or fired because of politics or some
issue having nothing to do with academic competence would have.  (Am
thinking also of the gender discrimination tenure cases -- e.g. Theda
Skocpol -- and whether those precedents might be useful)
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