The University Senate Committee for Open Expression started an investigation into the termination of an Emory University School of Medicine faculty member on Sept. 18. Emory University terminated the professor due to social media posts that “caused concern” within the campus community, according to a statement from School of Medicine Dean Sandra Wong addressed to medical school staff.
The University did not confirm the identity of the terminated professor. However, School of Medicine Associate Professor Anna Kenney posted comments on Facebook regarding the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political figure, which garnered scrutiny from U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.). The University removed Kenney’s faculty profile on the School of Medicine website.
Following the termination, University Senate President Noëlle McAfee authored an open letter on Sept. 18 requesting that the Committee for Open Expression Chair Sasha Volokh investigate the termination. The committee shared its preliminary opinion with the senate on Sept. 23, finding that the termination of the medical school professor likely violated the Open Expression Policy.
The opinion cited evidence of violations of the University’s Open Expression Policy, including clauses protecting community members’ First Amendment rights and the University’s adherence to federal law. It criticized Emory’s decision to terminate the professor by claiming the firing was the “sort of viewpoint discrimination that the Open Expression Policy expressly rejects.” The preliminary statement also argued that the Open Expression Policy requires the University to respect employees’ speech outside of work, including social media comments.
“All members of the Emory Community have broad latitude to speak, write, listen, challenge, and learn, whether they are on or off campus,” the policy states. “These freedoms are limited to the extent necessary to protect significant university interests enumerated above, and any regulations should not discriminate with respect to viewpoint or content.”
During a Q&A following Interim University President Leah Ward Sears’s (80L) address at the Sept. 23 University Senate meeting, University Senate Past-President and Professor of Law George Shepherd asked the president about the termination. At this point, the senate had already published Volokh’s preliminary investigation.
“I was kind of stunned when the med school dean fired somebody for words on their private account,” Shepherd said. “It was grotesquely offensive words, but still words, and that would seem that the firing of this person would seem clearly to violate the policy and the open expression committee has confirmed that.”
Sears said she believed it was “totally inappropriate to offer a reason” for the faculty member’s termination.
In March, Emory announced an updated Open Expression Policy. The University Senate and the University administration collaborated to implement changes to the policy.
However, in an interview with The Emory Wheel, McAfee raised concerns about the University’s actions toward the terminated professor, especially in the wake of the collaborative Open Expression Policy revisions.
“[The University] got the perfect policy that they wanted, that they can use, and now they’re showing that they’ll completely disregard it when it’s inconvenient,” McAfee said. “This is such bad faith. It gives me very little confidence that this University is going to protect people. It will continue to punish people when their expressive activity is inconvenient.”
While Volokh’s preliminary investigation stated the termination was against Emory’s policy, the committee also emphasized the findings were tentative and that the Committee for Open Expression is working on a full report to further investigate the medical professor’s termination.
After the senate meeting, McAfee told the Wheel that she wants the Emory administration to demonstrate further commitment to its Open Expression Policy.
“The Senate holds out an invitation for the administration to join us in protecting our principles and our policies,” McAfee said. “We are still waiting for them to accept that invitation.”
If the full investigation finds the University violated policy with the termination, Volokh said the ideal remedy would be for the University to reinstate the fired professor. However, he also said that because the University Senate is an advisory body, the committee cannot compel Emory administration to change any decisions.
“Anybody who is fired contrary to the policy should be unfired,” Volokh said. “The Committee for Open Expression has no power to force that to happen, but our hope is that Emory will recognize its obligations under the policy.”
Volokh shared a quotation from a 1996 court case in which Sears authored a concurring opinion in a First Amendment case. He shared his hopes that Sears will abide by these values during her time leading Emory.
“In fact, we must do our very best to hold fast to the values embodied by the First Amendment, even in extreme and painful cases, because we cannot suspend it and remain all that we strive to be,” Sears wrote.
Volokh was optimistic that Sears continues to stand by open expression protections in her role as University president.
“My hope is that President Sears, who herself is a former justice of the Supreme Court [of Georgia], and has said very positive things about free speech and the First Amendment during her judicial career, is ultimately going to come down as she should, on the side of free speech,” Volokh said.
Ellie Fivas (she/her) (26C) is from Cleveland, Tenn., and is majoring in political science and history on the pre-law track. When she is not working for the Wheel, she works in prison education, leads a human rights club and works at the Emory Writing Center. In her free time, you can find her reading trashy romances and The New York Times, basking on the Quadrangle and doing crossword puzzles.
