Court upholds sanctions against professors who called their peers ‘racists’

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Tennessee Tech University was within its rights to punish professors who targeted conservative peers, according to court rules

Sanctions will be imposed on two liberal professors who called a peer and a conservative group racist for their views and activism, a judge has heard.

Tennessee Technical University professors Julia Gruber and Andrew Smith were rightly punished by Provost Lori Bruce for posting flyers calling nursing professor Andrew Donadio a racist, federal judge Waverly Crenshaw recently statue.

Provost Bruce wrote in her sanctions that the anonymous posters were clearly intended to target an individual, a colleague and a small group of students for threat, harassment and bullying, [and] to incite others to participate in the harassment. The posters were distributed anonymously on campus in February 2021.

Donadio (pictured, with student leader Gittle Sciolis) is involved with the campus group Turning Point USA, which Gruber and Smith have also accused of racism through their flyers.

I am heartened by the victory for provosts and universities, Professor Donadio told The College Fix.

Donadio also noted that to his knowledge he has never had a spoken word with any of them. He declined further comment due to the possibility of legal action.

The charges are the result of Donadios’ public support for keeping a local school’s Redskins mascot as well as his work as a campus counselor for Turning Point USA. Donadio is also a Republican commissioner for Putnam County.

MORE: Cries from the left, flips the table at TPUSA event

Smith and Gruber were not permitted to serve as academic advisors to student organizations or participate in study abroad activities, according to Judge Crenshaw’s summary of sanctions. The two were also ineligible for non-teaching faculty assignments and ineligible for pay raises for one year.

Neither responded to The Fix’s requests for comment.

You are on our list, the flyers said, addressed to Donadio and TPUSA. An image of the poster can be seen below in a screenshot from a Fox 17 video as well as in the court ruling.

The posters also said that their hatred and hypocrisy were not welcome on campus. National TPUSA maintains a Teacher Watch List, which publishes information about teachers who have documented incidents promoting liberal ideology inside and outside the classroom.

Smith and Gruber were later added to the faculty watch list following the targeting of the TPUSA group and Donadio.

Judge Crenshaw wrote in the ruling about how the use of the word racist had become widely used and was losing its original meaning.

He wrote that “civility and professionalism have taken precedence over unnecessary discord and division” in “many areas of life”. Crenshaw wrote that “terms like ‘racist’ [are] to be walked around with reckless abandon.

Crenshaw further wrote in his ruling that the university had a responsibility to ensure a collegial environment.

Even though the term has been watered down over the years, calling a colleague a racist is hardly collegial, and threatening to put him and the group he advises on a list is no better, wrote the Judge Crenshaw. Also, like other higher education institutions, TTU has rules that must be followed in order for the institution to fulfill its educational mandate and mission.

It is certainly not too much for a university to ask its professors to act professionally, behave ethically, be respectful and maintain the highest level of integrity, as required by Policy 600 . [in the code of conduct]wrote Crenshaw.

MORE: University appears to ignore TPUSA club ban request

PICTURES: Fox News/YouTube; Fox 17

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