Posted on 04/18/2025 5:59:26 PM PDT by simpson96
Following Professor Scott Gerber’s vocal opposition to his school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, Ohio Northern University ordered campus police to yank him out of class and march him to the dean, who demanded Gerber’s immediate resignation. A judge decried the school’s apparent “callous disregard for due process,” but because Gerber had the courage to fight back in court, ONU took things even further — filing a federal lawsuit to shut him up.
But Gerber is not having it. A longtime critic of ONU’s initiatives around DEI, Gerber’s objections made him a target of administrators, who launched an investigation into him in January 2023. From then until his sudden termination, ONU outright refused to disclose the specific accusations against him. When the school finally told Gerber he lacked “collegiality,” FIRE explained to ONU that this charge looked a lot like retaliation for his views on DEI, which would be a stark violation of the university’s commitment to academic freedom. We called on ONU in March, and again in May, to provide Gerber with the specifics of its collegiality concerns, to no avail.
Out of work and still wondering what he did wrong, Gerber took ONU to court. His complaint centered on the university’s failure to provide him with the specific grounds for dismissal. This fundamental principle of due process protects the right of the accused to defend themselves. After all, if you don’t know what you’re accused of doing, it’s impossible to prove your innocence. Universities provide due process to ensure accurate disciplinary determinations, especially when a tenured professor’s livelihood hangs in the balance. That’s why an Ohio state court allowed Gerber’s breach of contract claim to proceed, criticizing ONU’s “troubling . . . lack of any detailed determination” of how its allegations “affected his fitness as a faculty member.” That case is now headed to trial.
Why did Ohio Northern University suspend professor Scott Gerber? We have no idea, and neither does he. But for defending his rights in state court, ONU sued Gerber in federal court on Jan. 20, claiming Gerber’s “perverted” lawsuit is apparently an “attempt to accomplish . . . personal vendettas” and “unleashing political retribution” against ONU — notwithstanding the state court holding Gerber’s claims warranted proceeding to a jury. ONU’s suit claims Gerber’s “true goal is to manufacture outrage, to influence political retribution, and to extract vengeance against” ONU. According to the lawsuit, Gerber’s attempt to hold the university to its own policies is an unlawful “abuse of process.”
Disturbingly, the crux of ONU’s complaint rests on Gerber’s protected speech. The university faults Gerber for expressing accurate information about his ordeal in the Wall Street Journal and through a press release published by his attorneys at America First Legal, maligned by ONU as a “manufactured narrative” designed to “manufacture outrage.” Yet Gerber and America First Legal cite the university’s own words and policies to make his case, which a state court has allowed to proceed by rejecting ONU’s efforts to dismiss his claims.
The irony of ONU refusing to provide Gerber with the bare minimum of process before summarily terminating him, then launching a whole federal lawsuit instead to get him to stop fighting, is palpable.
ONU’s suit is a classic example of abusing the legal system to silence your critics. Such a strategic lawsuit against public participation, or SLAPP, is a tactic that seeks solely to impose punishing litigation costs on their targets. The lawsuit is the punishment. Gerber must now bear the burden of defending this meritless suit while he prepares for trial in state court.
If Orwell and Kafka had a child...
Does this “university” have a sleeper car?
“Academic freedom”? What a joke
Good for Professor Gerber; when you are realistically able to do so, always fight, fight FIGHT!!
And don’t be afraid of stepping on toes. They have already been standing on yours for a long while.
I don’t understand why the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) isn’t even mentioned. For my 40+ years of university teaching, they were always there to back up the professor. There’s something odd going on here.
Perhaps the formerly esteemed AAUP has now been compromised and homogenized, with only one point of view being represented on certain hot wire topics.
I’m no doctor, but I felt somewhat similar about the AMA, when so many doctors came out supporting mandatory Covid vaccines for all, with no exceptions. That movement was preceded by the many doctors who were encouraging Sex Change Surgery with very little review of each patient’s case.
The AMA and the ABA would have no members if it weren’t for liability insurance. Both are actually unions and control the supply of doctors and lawyers by accreditation policies and state licensing exams. If you can fog a mirror you can practice in ND, but you’d better be up on things in FL or CA. They don’t want retired professionals to practice in those states as it would crush fees charged by both.
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