The letter was originally started in late September 2025. On Oct. 11, it was sent to the addressees, with close to 100 signatories. After a follow-up on Oct. 20, a response was received later that day, which referred to the confidentiality of personnel files as a reason not to engage in a substantive discussion. The faculty responded on Oct. 21, offering to delegate discussions to a smaller subgroup, with Anna Kenney explicitly authorizing the details of her personnel files relevant to the termination to be shared with this delegation, after redacting them for the privacy of others. The administration rejected the offer on Oct. 22.
Meanwhile, on Oct. 15, Emory announced the appointment of a new provost, Badia Ahad, and all correspondence after that included her as well. Further, on Oct. 21, the Emory University Committee for Open Expression released the final review of the case, which agreed with the arguments in this faculty letter. On Oct. 21, the Faculty Council passed a resolution requesting the university to readdress this case in view of the findings by the Committee.
With no substantial discussions with the administration forthcoming, we are now releasing this letter publicly as an open letter.
Below is an exact copy of the letter sent to administrators, with slight adjustments made in accordance with Associated Press style. Additional faculty members beyond those listed below have expressed their support of the letter but wish to remain anonymous.
Oct. 10, 2025
To: Dr. Sandra Wong, Dean, Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Lanny Liebeskind, Interim Provost, Emory University
Dr. Joon S. Lee, Executive Vice President for Health Affairs, Emory University
Justice Leah Ward Sears, Interim President, Emory University
Subject: Violation of Open Expression Policy in the Dismissal of Dr. Anna Kenney
Dear Dr. Wong, Dr. Liebeskind, Dr. Lee and Justice Sears,
We, the undersigned senior faculty members of Emory University, write to express our urgent concern regarding the recent dismissal of our colleague, Anna Kenney, from the School of Medicine.
We note that Kenney was fired as the direct result of a personal social media post. We make no judgment here about whether that post was tactful, inflammatory, appropriate or otherwise. Nor are we endorsing the content of her remarks. What we stress, however, is that this firing is in direct violation of values behind Emory University’s Open Expression Policy (Policy 8.14). On Sept. 23, the University’s Committee for Open Expression issued a preliminary finding indicating that this termination undermines the principles of open expression that our University upholds.
At the University Senate meeting on Sept. 23, Interim President Sears (80L) declined to discuss this case, asserting that it was a personnel matter. We must stress that if any disciplinary action can simply be dismissed as a “personnel matter” to avoid scrutiny, it hollows out the entire Open Expression Policy. The University cannot allow key faculty rights to be undermined by hiding such actions behind this label.
We have reviewed the reasons provided for Kenney’s dismissal — reasons such as alleged reputational harm and community distress from her social media statements. While listed in Emory’s Standards of Conduct (Policy 4.62), which restricts behavior “harmful to the reputation and mission” of the University and behavior “adversely affecting students, employees, patients, or visitors,” such broad catch-all provisions cannot be used to circumvent protections provided by the Open Expression Policy, which explicitly states that causing offense is not a valid reason to restrict speech, and that the University “shall not arbitrarily suppress opinions on public questions.” By terminating a faculty member on these grounds, the University violates the commitments it has made to its faculty.
We have also reviewed the School of Medicine’s Professionalism Policy. That policy limits faculty social media violations to narrow cases such as disclosing patient information, misrepresenting the institution’s views, making threats or advocating hatred. Kenney’s posts, while strongly worded, did none of these. To treat them as professionalism violations requires stretching the policy beyond its stated scope, in direct conflict with the protections guaranteed by the Open Expression Policy.
We further reviewed the University’s Social Media guidelines. These are merely advisory and not adopted as enforceable policies and therefore cannot properly serve as the basis for disciplinary action against faculty speech on personal accounts. Further, the School of Medicine’s version of social media guidelines has been found by the Committee for Open Expression to conflict with the broader Open Expression Policy. While these guidelines emphasize maintaining institutional reputation, they do not supersede the fundamental rights of Emory community members to opine on topics of public interest, enshrined in a university-wide policy that mirrors the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In summary, the rationales offered for this dismissal do not stand up to the standards of Emory’s Open Expression Policy (Policy 8.14) and require stretching other policies beyond their stated scope. We recognize that Emory’s leadership is focused on institutional survival and risk mitigation. But genuine institutional health depends not only on finances, risk avoidance and legal compliance; it also depends on a culture of trust, freedom of thought and community, all of which were compromised in this incident.
Accordingly, we firmly insist that the University (i) issue a formal acknowledgment that Anna Kenney was terminated in violation of Policy 8.14; and (ii) reaffirm that the Open Expression Policy governs community members’ speech on matters of public concern, with a commitment that all future investigations and disciplinary actions will honor both the letter and the spirit of Policy 8.14.
Sincerely,
Undersigned Senior Faculty
Emory University
Candler School of Theology
- Alison Collis Greene, Associate Professor
- Susan E. Hylen, Almar H. Shatford Professor of New Testament
- Ellen Ott Marshall, Professor
- Ted A. Smith, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Divinity
Emory College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Biology
- Rustom Antia, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
- Gordon Berman, Associate Professor
- Anita Corbett, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
- Roger Deal, Associate Professor
- Nicole Gerardo, Paul & Phyllis Fireman Professor
- Dieter Jaeger, Professor
- William Kelly, Professor Emeritus
- Bruce R. Levin, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
- Steven W. L’Hernault, Professor and Chair
- Levi Morran, Associate Professor
- Astrid Prinz, Associate Professor
- Iain Shepherd, Associate Professor
Department of Chemistry
- Christine Dunham, Samuel C. Dobbs Professor
- Michael C. Heaven, Samuel C. Dobbs Professor
- James Kindt, Professor
- David Lynn, Asa G. Candler Professor of Chemistry and Biology
- Frank McDonald, Professor
Department of Comparative Literature
- Sean Meighoo, Associate Professor and Interim Chair
Department of Data and Decision Sciences
- Lauren Klein, Professor of DDS and English
Department of English
- Jericho Brown, Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing
- Heather Christle, Associate Professor
- Emil’ Keme, Professor
- Barbara Ladd, Professor
- Catherine Nickerson, Associate Professor
- Dan Sinykin, Winship Distinguished Research Professor
- Nathan Suhr-Sytsma, Associate Professor
- Tiphanie Yanique, Professor of English and Creative Writing
Department of Film and Media
- Tanine Allison, Associate Professor
- Matthew H. Bernstein, Goodrich C. White Professor
- Jason Francisco, Associate Professor
- Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, Professor
- Gregory Zinman, Associate Professor
Department of German Studies
- Hiram Maxim, Professor of German Studies and Linguistics
Department of History
- Clifton Crais, Professor; Past President of ECAS Faculty Senate, member of OEP Revision Committee
- Astrid M. Eckert, Professor
- Daniel LaChance, Associate Professor
- Judith A. Miller, Associate Professor
- Jason Morgan Ward, Professor
- Jonathan Prude, Associate Professor
- Thomas D. Rogers, Professor; AAUP Executive Committee member, Member, Faculty Council
- Yanna Yannakakis, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
Department of Philosophy
- Lynne Huffner, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor
- Noelle McAfee, Professor
Department of Physics
- Stefan Boettcher, Professor
- Justin Burton, Winship Distinguished Research Professor
- Ilya Nemenman, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Physics and Biology; Past Chair, Committee for Open Expression
- Daniel Weissman, Associate Professor; Vice Chair, Committee for Open Expression
Department of Political Science
- Rick Doner, Professor Emeritus
- Eric Reinhardt, Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
- David Edwards, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience
Department of Sociology
- John Boli, Professor Emeritus
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
- Karen Stolley, Professor
Department of Theater and Dance
- Noe Montez, Associate Professor
Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
- Pamela Scully, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of WGSS and African Studies
Emory University School of Law
- George Shepherd, Professor
Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry
- Graeme L. Conn, Professor
- Richard Kahn, Professor Emeritus
Department of Biomedical Engineering
- Chethan Pandarinath, Associate Professor
Department of Cell Biology
- Criss Hartzell, Professor Emeritus
Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics
- Alicia K. Smith, Professor
Department of Human Genetics
- Tamara Caspary, Professor
- Victor Corces, Professor
- Joseph Cubells, Professor
- David Cutler, Professor
- Michael Epstein, Professor
- Judith Fridovich-Keil, Professor
- David Weinshenker, Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
- Shonna McBride, Professor
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- Guy Benian, Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology
- Carlos Moreno, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Biomedical Informatics, and Urology
Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology
- Randy Hall, Professor
Department of Radiology
- Stefan Tigges, Professor
Goizueta Business School
- Anandhi Bharadwaj, Goizueta Endowed Chair in Electronic Commerce and Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management
- Kathryn Kadous, Schaefer Chaired Professor of Accounting
- Wesley Longhofer, Associate Professor
- Melissa J. Williams, Professor of Organization & Management
Neil Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
- Nicole Carlson PhD, Associate Professor
- Irene Yang, Associate Professor
Oxford College
Division of History and Social Sciences
- Don Beaudette, Associate Professor
- Jennifer McGee, Associate Professor
Division of Humanities
- Nicholas Fesette, Associate Professor
- Florian Pohl, Associate Professor
Rollins School of Public Health
Department of Behavioral, Social & Health Education Sciences
- Hannah Cooper, Professor
- Chandra Ford, Professor of BSHES and African American Studies (ECAS); AAUP Executive Committee member
- Kelli A. Komro, Professor
Department of Epidemiology
- Alvaro Alonso, Professor and Stephen D. Clements, Jr. Chair in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
- Neel Gandhi, Professor
- Michael Goodman, Professor
- Carol J. Rowland Hogue, Jules and Uldeen Terry Professor Emerita of Maternal and Child Health
- Sarita Shah, Associate Professor
- Viola Vaccarino, Professor
Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health
- Thomas Clasen, Rose Salamone Gangarosa Professor
Hubert Department of Global Health
- Kenneth G. Castro, Professor
- Christine L. Moe, Eugene J. Gangarosa Professor of Safe Water and Sanitation
