Mitchell v. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, regarding a friend-of-the-court brief ADF attorneys filed Wednesday with the Supreme Court of North Carolina in Mitchell v. The University of North Carolina Board of Governors, a case in which a college professor is challenging his termination from employment simply because he sent a letter to a colleague that was critical of her decision to deny funding for the professor and students to attend an academic conference:

“American democracy thrives when free speech is allowed to flourish, and that is especially true on college campuses. University professors should feel confident that they can speak freely, even if their speech may upset or offend university officials. Here, people can agree or disagree with what Dr. Mitchell said in his letter and how he said it. ADF takes no position on either issue. But we should all agree that Winston Salem State University was wrong to terminate Dr. Mitchell’s employment over that letter, and the lower court was wrong to rule that the First Amendment does not protect Dr. Mitchell’s expression. While we believe it is important to communicate in a civil and respectful manner, speech does not receive less protection simply because others disagree with the tone or language employed. So we are urging the court to reverse the lower court ruling and to protect free speech and academic freedom for all professors of all persuasions.”

The ADF Center for Academic Freedom is dedicated to protecting First Amendment and related freedoms for students and faculty so that everyone can freely participate in the marketplace of ideas without fear of government censorship.

# # #