Identity of Speakers
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Christopher Rufo
Unaffiliated
OtherNew College of Florida trustee
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Erik Wallenberg
Faculty/Staff
OtherNew College of Florida professor
Resources
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Course Content
Social media
Other
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Incident Political Orientation:
Right wing -
Incident Responses:
Other
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Incident Status:
No litigation
- Was Speech Code incident
Summary
A trustee of New College of Florida, Christopher Rufo, tweeted that the college would not renew Professor Erik Wallenberg’s contract due to his “left-wing” teachings and critiques of administrators. This tweet violates public college’s First Amendment obligations to honor faculty expression. Professors at the college now feared repercussions for teaching how they believe is fit.
Rufo followed up his initial tweet with many others stating that it is not a right to be employed by a public university, but rather a privilege. Under the First Amendment faculty do not have a right of employment, but public colleges have an obligation to honor the constitutional rights of professors. Furthermore, a college cannot legally retaliate against a professor for exercising their First Amendment protected speech. There has been pushback against this trustee’s actions claiming the college and Florida officials must respect First Amendment rights.
