AFA Sends Letter to Texas A&M Regarding Censure of Professor
University suspended and investigated Prof. Joy Alonzo for criticizing a state official
PRINCETON, NJ – The Academic Freedom Alliance (AFA) today sent a letter to Texas A&M regarding reports that it suspended and investigated a faculty member over comments critical of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. According to published reports, Professor Joy Alonzo in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Texas A&M participated as a guest lecturer on the opioid crisis at the University of Texas on March 7, 2023. When a student in the class complained about her comments, she was suspended and investigated by Texas A&M and formally censured by course leaders. She was cleared of wrongdoing, but leaders at both the University of Texas and Texas A&M sent emails clearly designed to discourage constitutionally protected speech in order to avoid offending students or state politicians.
“I write on behalf of the Academic Freedom Alliance to express our firm view that the university’s actions represent an egregious violation of the principles of academic freedom and the university’s responsibilities under the First Amendment,” wrote Keith Whittington, Founding Chair of the AFA’s Academic Committee, in the letter to Chancellor John Sharp of Texas A&M. “Texas A&M is a state university subject to the limits of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as well as its own contractual commitments.”
Whittington continued, “The university needs to take explicit steps to reaffirm its commitment to academic freedom and to reassure the faculty that they will not be threatened with termination if they say critical things about state policy when the discussion of such policies is entirely germane to the courses being taught. State university classrooms are not a ‘safe space’ for state politicians, and university officials should be prepared to explain to state officials that students and faculty have a constitutional right to say critical things about them in the course of their activities in an institution of higher education.”
- The AFA’s letter to Texas A&M
- Coverage of the AFA’s letter in KBTX
- Coverage of the controversy in The Texas Tribune
- Recent ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit finding that the First Amendment does not tolerate a state action that “stifles a professor’s viewpoint on a matter of public import.”