Court upholds LSU professor’s suspension


    A Louisiana appeals court on Tuesday upheld the suspension of an LSU law professor who criticized Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump using vulgar language.

    While teaching a constitutional law class last month, tenured professor Ken Levy stated “F— the governor” and employed the expletive to talk about Trump and students who supported him.

    Within a few days, LSU’s administration informed Levy that he had been suspended from his teaching responsibilities “pending an investigation into student complaints of inappropriate statements made in your class,” according to a lawsuit Levy filed last week.

    The three-member First Circuit Court of Appeal’s ruling overturned East Baton Rouge District Judge Donald Johnson’s order last week that LSU immediately reinstate Levy to his teaching role. This would require a “full evidentiary hearing,” the appeals court ruled.

    A hearing is scheduled for Monday, lawyers for both parties say.

    The appeals court ruling upheld the rest of the district judge’s temporary restraining order barring LSU from retaliating against Levy “on account of his protected academic freedom and free speech.”

    Levy’s attorney Jill Craft says she is pleased with the appeals court’s decision to uphold “the bulk” of the restraining order on behalf of her client.

    “What it means is his rights are protected and LSU can’t take any action against him and so that’s a good thing,” Craft told The Associated Press.

    Jimmy Faircloth, Jr., an attorney representing LSU, said that the elements of the restraining order upheld by the appeals court are “superfluous” and “doesn’t do anything other than tell LSU ‘you can’t break the law,’ which we know and we’re not doing.”

    Levy’s suspension is “not a question of academic freedom” but rather about “inappropriate conduct in the classroom,” LSU Vice President of Marketing and Communications Todd Woodward says in an emailed statement.

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