Statement of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education:
Hours After Publication of Critical Article, Texas A&M San Antonio Dismisses Professor
May 31, 2012
The story of the dismissal of Texas A&M University-San Antonio (TAMU-SA) lecturer Sissy Bradford has garnered much attention—and for good reason. Within hours of the publication of an article in which Bradford criticized the university's handling of threats against her, Bradford was informed that she would not be teaching at the university for the coming fall semester. Is this revenge for speaking out? You be the judge, but it sure looks like it.
Since 2010, Bradford has lectured in TAMU-SA's sociology and criminology departments, teaching three or four course sections per semester. Last fall, she became a target of criticism and backlash after voicing opposition to the erection of two crosses near the entrance to the campus....
Bradford feared for her safety, and was dissatisfied with TAMU-SA's handling of the vitriol directed at her. Bradford shared her criticisms with The Current, a San Antonio newsweekly, which published a story on the case on May 16....In spite of her concerns about her safety and TAMU-SA's response, Bradford accepted an assignment to teach four criminology sections at TAMU-SA in the fall 2012 semester—two sections of a course on "Community Perspectives in Crime" and two sections of a course on "Social Deviance." A February 2email from departmental colleague Durant Franzen confirms this. An April 2 email from William S. Bush, interim head of TAMU-SA's School of Arts and Sciences, also confirms this, telling her, "we still have you on the schedule for fall." ...
Many know, of course, that the job security of adjunct instructors like Bradford is nowhere near what it is for tenured professors and that universities may (and frequently do) decide not to rehire them for myriad reasons—or no reason at all. But this does not mean that adjunct professors possess fewer First Amendment rights than their tenured counterparts. Adverse employment action taken against adjunct instructors on the basis of their protected expression as citizens violates the First Amendment. As we've made clear in numerous cases involving non-tenured faculty, adverse employment action includes the decision not to rehire faculty who have a reasonable expectation of being rehired. Bradford has taught multiple sections each semester for the past two years. As Jaschik notes, "she has strong student evaluations (which she shared with Inside Higher Ed) and she has been honored for her teaching." She has multiple emails confirming the university's expectations that her teaching would continue into this fall. It's hard not to conclude that, had her critical comments not appeared in The Current, Sissy Bradford would be continuing her teaching at TAMU-SA this fall.
TAMU-SA is framing the decision to part with Bradford as a business decision—part of the reality of being an adjunct with "no expectation of continued employment," as the spokesperson put it. Generally speaking, TAMU-SA cannot, consistent with its obligations under the First Amendment, rid itself of instructors simply because the institution deems protected expression embarrassing. Given the timeline of events and Bradford's clear evidence that TAMU-SA was fully planning on employing her this fall, TAMU-SA does not deserve to be taken at its word.
FIRE will have more on this case as it develops.
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