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Tim Smith, University of San Diego

From March 2021 to May 2021
University of San Diego (Private college or university)
San Diego, CA, USA

Identity of Speakers

  • Tim Smith
    Faculty/Staff
    Other

    Tim Smith is a law professor at the University of San Diego

Resources

Additional Information

  • Incident Nature:
    Faculty publication
  • Incident Political Orientation:
    Right-of-spectrum
  • Incident Responses:
    University investigation not issuing in sanctions
  • Incident Status:
    No litigation
  • Did not involve Speech Codes

Summary

Tim Smith is a law professor at the University of San Diego. On March 10, 2021, Smith published a post on his blog The Right Coast criticizing the Chinese government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The blog post provoked an outcry from student groups. As a result, Professor Smith’s status was placed “under review” while the university conducted a six-week internal investigation into his comments. On May 5, the University of San Diego’s Provost, Gail Baker, released a statement announcing the university’s judgment that the blog post was protected by its academic freedom policy, while at the same time admonishing members of the university community to “exercise their freedom in a responsible fashion, attentive to the impact of their protected opinions and sensitive to all members of the community, especially those who may feel vulnerable, marginalized or fearful that they are not welcomed.”