Identity of Speakers
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Dr. Julia Gruber
Faculty/Staff
OtherTenured Associate Professor of German at Tennessee Tech University
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Andrew Smith
Student
OtherTenured Instructor of English at Tennessee Tech University
Additional Information
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Incident Nature:
Other
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Incident Political Orientation:
Left wing -
Incident Responses:
Litigation
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Incident Status:
In litigation Federal District Court
Dismissed
- Was Speech Code incident
Summary
In February 2021, two Tennessee Tech professors, Julia Gruber and Andrew Smith, created and distributed a flyer depicting professor and Putnam County Commissioner Andrew Donadio sitting on the Iron Throne from HBO’s Game of Thrones. The flyer criticized Donadio after a dispute over the failed effort to rename a middle school mascot. Tennessee Tech disciplined Gruber and Smith for harassment, discrimination, intimidation, and threats. On October 5, after Tennessee Tech refused to back down from disciplining the professors, the professors filed a lawsuit against the university. On December 1, 2022, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee ruled against the professors, finding their flyer “cuts against the promotion of the ‘free exchange of ideas’” and thus the university was justified in punishing them under the First Amendment.
