Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech

UCF Forced to Reinstate Professor Fired After Writing About “Black Privilege”
We previously discussed the effort to fire University of Central Florida Professor Charles Negy after he tweeted about “black privilege.”  UCF President Alexander Cartwright abandoned any pretense of academic freedom or principle in failing to protect a colleague from an anti-free speech campaign. Now, after a major court ruling against the university, an arbitrator has awarded Negy all back pay and benefits from the time of his firing.  That is good news. What is not good news is that, despite shredding core principles governing higher education, Cartwright remains the UCF president.  To the contrary, the university issued a statement that indicated that it is undeterred by the adverse court rulings.
Negy, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida, required police protection after he tweeted about what he views as “black privilege.” There was a petition demanding his termination with more than 30,000 signatures and, as we have seen in other schools, his colleagues were virtually silent as Negy was attacked for expressing his views.  While classroom misconduct has been raised by some critics, most of the effort (and the focus of this posting) is on his statements on social media. That petition focused on Negy’s statements on social media as unacceptable and grounds for termination:

“We are calling on the University of Central Florida to dismiss psychology professor Charles Negy due to abhorrent racist comments he has made and continues to make on his personal Twitter account. In addition to racism, Negy has engaged in perverse transphobia and sexism on his account, which is just as reprehensible. While he has a right to free speech, he does not have a right to dehumanize students of color and other minority groups, which is a regular occurance [sic] in his classroom. By allowing him to continue in his position, UCF would simply be empowering another cog in the machine of systemic racism.”

Negy faced protests at his home and on campus, according to news reports  after he explored the concept of “white shaming” as an academic, including his book “White Shaming: Bullying Based on Prejudice, Virtue-Signaling, and Ignorance.”

Negy’s work is highly controversial and his tweets have inflamed critics. In a now deleted tweet, he wrote “Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. action, special scholarships and other set asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege. But as a group, they’re missing out on much needed feedback.”

He has also written, again on Twitter, “If Afr. Americans as a group, had the same behavioral profile as Asian Americans (on average, performing the best academically, having the highest income, committing the lowest crime, etc.), would we still be proclaiming ‘systematic racism’ exists?”

Again, the question is not the merits or tenor of such writings but the right of academics to express such viewpoints. There have been few comparable protests when professors write inflammatory comments about white culture or white privilege.

UCF President Alexander Cartwright told students that the university would investigate Negy, and that he and his Administration “are acutely aware of the offensive and hurtful Twitter posts that professor Charles Negy has shared on his personal page. These posts do not reflect the values of UCF, and I strongly condemn these racist and abhorrent posts.”

We recently discussed the Eleventh Circuit ruling against Cartwright and the university over its discriminatory-harassment and bias response team policies as violative of the First Amendment. The Eleventh Circuit overturned a district judge’s rejection of a preliminary injunction against the policy: “[I]t is imperative that colleges and universities toe the constitutional line when monitoring, supervising, and regulating student expression. Despite what we presume to be the very best of intentions, it seems to us substantially likely that the University of Central Florida crossed that line here.”

In oral argument, the university’s own lawyer struggled to define the terms or to say whether particular statements might be deemed prohibited. The court noted:

“The discriminatory-harassment policy’s imprecision exacerbates its chilling effect. To take just one example, what does it mean for one student’s speech to ‘unreasonably . . . alter’ another student’s educational experience? Both terms — ‘unreasonably’ and ‘alter’— are pretty amorphous, their application would likely vary from one student to another, and the university’s totality-of-known-circumstances approach to determining whether particular speech crosses the line only makes matters worse.”

Just as the university spent a huge amount of time and money to fight for these unconstitutional rules, it has litigated the matter over Negy to seek to strip him of his job and all benefits due to his exercise of free speech.

After teaching psychology at the school since 1998, Negy, 61, was fired in January 2021. As Cartwright turned the weight of the university against him, Negy had to sell his house to pay his lawyers.

The arbitrator noted that, while the school added objections to his teaching style, Negy received outstanding teaching reviews. Moreover, he noted Negy “demonstrated a willingness to entertain some change in his style of instruction; however, the record is devoid of any clear evidence that any member of his management requested such effort.”

Chad Binette, assistant vice president of UCF communications, indicated that the university remains undeterred by these losses. He stated that “UCF stands by the actions taken following a thorough investigation that found repeated misconduct in Professor Negy’s classroom, including imposing his views about religion, sex and race. However, we are obligated to follow the arbitrator’s ruling.”

What is not clear to me is how Cartwright retains his position as president in a Florida public university after such a record of attacks on free speech and academic freedom. He has not only sought to impose anti-free speech conditions on faculty but spent copious amounts of money seeking to preserve those rules and uphold those actions. These principles are the essence of any university and their abandonment constitutes a rejection of Cartwright’s obligation as a university president. I would not support his termination as an academic but, as an administrator, he has shown a serial failure to defend his faculty and free speech. Until university presidents are held accountable for failing to defend free speech, they will continue to yield to every flash mob that forms on a campus.

 

 

 

 

160 thoughts on “UCF Forced to Reinstate Professor Fired After Writing About “Black Privilege””

  1. Counselor, in 1969 l had Vince Blasi at UT Austin Law School as an L2 midlaw. He’s regarded as fairly liberal. He’s also brilliant and a damn good prof. Educator. There was no tilt to any liberal or conservative direction in his class. Here, one thing he said stands out. A university means what it says. A place where every idea is free to be discussed. Including the hated ideas. It made sense then. It makes sense now. I’ll be damned if we let university retreat from that promise.

  2. Dearest Jonathan: You know I have had a secret crush on you since I first saw you on Fox news. That coquettish smile and the way you turn up your lip when speaking. Ooh, la la! Now what has gotten me in a tizzy is the horrible things some of your ardent followers ( I am so jealous) have said about me–especially after my last comment defending the “free speech” rights of a gay graduating student in Florida. Absolutely horrible and untrue things about me. And I am terribly offended. Now to show you about my proclivities (and I don’t want to brag) I I recently attended my 20 year highs school reunion. For the occasion I bought a new blond wig (a la Marilyn Monroe), a new pink dress with fish net stockings and 4″ heels. I was the bell of the ball!. I got a standing ovation when I paraded around the venue holding the sign that read: “Don’t Say Gay”. I was given the “Staley High School Reunion Drag Queen” award for my evening’s performance. You had to be there. I glowed and my mascara ran. Now I wasn’t always this way. In high school I was a “straight” dresser. I even played varsity football. My absolute favorite part of the game was “piling on” when the quarterback fumbled the ball. That’s when I realized my destiny lay elsewhere.

    Anyway, now this horrible person “ZZDoc” thinks I practically coined the phrase “Don’t Say Gay” to describe the gay bashing bill the governor of Florida signed–when everyone knows this phrase is widely used in the mainstream media. “ZZDoc” thinks I should use the proper name for the bill–“Parental Rights in Education”. But that doesn’t begin to describe the intent of the law–to ban any discussion of sexual identity in classrooms–A misnomer if I ever heard one. But that’s what politicians do. Disguise their intent with neutral sounding language. But no one was fooled– especially my LGBTQ friends. Actually I prefer the term “No Promo Homo” to describe the law. Has more of an appealing ring don’t you think? In fact I am writing a song with this title for my next performance gig.

    Now the most horrible person is “S. Meyer”. who goes a step farther. He accuses me of being “interested in indoctrinating K-grade three kids into sexual identities of others”. He says: “Dennis doesn’t understand the law”. Al contrario. For obvious reasons I have been tracking many of the gay bashing laws around the country. Florida’s law is the worst. Now I don’t have to “indoctrinate” kids about queer identity. I don’t want to “convert” anyone. You’re either queer or you’re not. That’s the part that these homophobes don’t understand. It’s not a “lifestyle” you “choose”.

    So for all the secret cross dressers out there enjoy going out and buying that special dress. Just remember J. Edgar Hoover was the darling of the GOP right-wing in his day and enjoyed the support of Richard Nixon and other presidents. Hoover spent most of his time hunting down “communists”–that’s when he was not cavorting around in his latest female plumage. Cross dressing was all the rage–even back then!

    1. RE:”Dearest Jonathan”……Definitely the winner of the title ‘Sick Puppy” for this band of contributors.

    2. “Now the most horrible person is “S. Meyer”. who goes a step farther. He accuses me of being “interested in indoctrinating K-grade three kids into sexual identities of others”. He says: “Dennis doesn’t understand the law”

      Dennis, the following is copied from the law. If you are against it, then what other reason would you have to want to instruct K- 3rd grade in sexual orientation and gender identification? I don’t think anyone who cares about children whether gay, straight or trans wants such instruction at such a young age. You tell me I am wrong because you don’t like this clause which is the only clause discussed. Explain yourself, or are you just a horrible person who wishes K-3rd grade students to be abused?

      97 3. Classroom instruction by school personnel or third
      98 parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur
      99 in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-
      100 appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in
      Page4of7 CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.
      101 accordance with state standards.

      https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/PDF

      1. RE: “Dennis, the following is copied ……” Seriously, why would you even want to bother to take the time. He so twists and distorts the content of my offering to suit his agenda that were issued from the likes of any of CNN’s persons, Stelter, Lemon, Cooper,. Acosta or Cuomo in particular, or the totally obtuse and irrelevant ‘they’ seated around the table of pretended intelligence at ‘The View’ it would be a perfect fit. Of course I’m familiar with this tripe. How else would one be able to confirm that the information one is receiving is fair, balanced and unafraid. The difference is so glaring that wearing my sunglasses is a must. Do prepare yourself for he who must have the last word. His kind is predictable.

  3. Mespo,

    I’m not 100% certain that I responded specifically to you yesterday. So I am re-posting my comments again:

    ———————
    I was searching Turley’s blog on gun rights in light of the recent mass murder, and I uncovered your article:

    https://jonathanturley.org/2011/09/17/federal-judge-florida-docs-can-talk-to-patients-about-guns/

    You still stand by it?

    I dare say that most if not all Trumpists would call you a “retard” for slamming the Tea Party- forerunners of MAGA:

    “Tea Party busybodies now feel quite entitled to intrude upon the examination room. Apparently, it’s conservative politics that trumps all; a Constitutional provision merely the clothing for the wolf. Judge Cooke saw through the disguise.”

    Excellent!
    ——————

    1. JS:
      “You still stand by it?

      I dare say that most if not all Trumpists would call you a “retard” for slamming the Tea Party- forerunners of MAGA:

      “Tea Party busybodies now feel quite entitled to intrude upon the examination room. Apparently, it’s conservative politics that trumps all; a Constitutional provision merely the clothing for the wolf. Judge Cooke saw through the disguise.”

      Excellent!“
      *****************************
      I stand by every word. As I said the other day, I don’t like tyrants of the Left or Right. Back then the Maoists were Tea Partiers trying to deny the free speech of doctors and patients. Who could possibly be for that? Dumb ol’ Rick Scott, that’s who. I know you think I just pace around one box. In fact, I’m always on the side of more freedom to the largest extent possible. I’m glad we agree on one. It’s about time.

  4. Jonathan: A white supremacist kills 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo. Now a gunman goes into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas and slaughters 19 young children. The Uvalde massacre is the second deadliest since Sandy Hook. The open expression of racist views along with loose gun laws have encouraged these gun shootings. Texas has one of the country’s least restrictive gun laws. No other affluent country in the world has a gun homicide rate nearly as high as the US. But 2nd Amendment advocates like Fox news and GOP politicians like Marjorie Taylor are against sensible gun legislation. The gun lobby spends nearly $200 million a year in anti-gun control lobbying that made it possible for Salvador Ramos to acquire a gun to carry out his massacre in Texas. On his Fox show Tucker Carlson endorses the “great replacement theory” that motivated the shooter in Buffalo. But you would rather talk about the “free speech” rights of two racist professors. Seems your priorities are upside down. By the way, Katz was just fired by Princeton and I would imagine you will have something further to say on that firing.

    But if “free speech” is the topic let’s address some other important free expression issues around the country you have totally ignored. There is an interesting case in Florida. Zander Moricz is the graduating senior class president at Pine View School for the Gifted in Osprey. FL. Moricz is also gay. He had prepared a graduation speech to address his experiences as a gay student and the “Don’t Say Gay” law Gov. DeSantis recently put into affect. When the school principal learned about Moricz’s speech he told him that if he went ahead with the speech his microphone would be turned off. Undeterred, Moricz decided to change his speech. Instead of talking about the challenges faced by gay students and the governor’s gay bashing he employed an allegory. He talked about his “curly hair” (an allusion to being gay) that had presented a host of personal issues: “There are going to be so many kids with curly hair who need a community like Pine View and they will not have one. Instead, they’ll try to fix themselves so that they can exist in Florida’s humid climate”. The allegory was lost on school administrators but not on the students who stood up and applauded Moricz’s brilliant use of coded language. Moricz has obviously been influenced by George Orwell’s “Animal Farm”.

    Now Moricz should not have been required to resort to an allegory to freely express his views. That’s censorship and something you should be concerned about. But apparently it’s not on your radar where racists get top billing.

    1. RE: “”””Now Moricz should not have been required to resort to an allegory to freely express his views. That’s censorship…….””” Of course it is. What’s marvelous about your narrative is that it applies equally to those who support the socio-political and economic re-engineering which is expressed by the Cancel Culture Mindset and Gestapo tactics which would have obliged a public speaker whose position they opposed to do precisely the same thing.. That you reference the Florida law as ‘The Don’t Say Gay’ bill wherein neither the word nor the admonition appears, clearly colors your comments, reflects your prejudice and the tactics your are prepared to resort to. What you have successfully accomplished in your narrative is to give credence and support to those who charge that, its umbrage notwithstanding, ‘The Left’ is actually doing what they accuse their adversaries of, though I doubt we’ll ever hear that expressed on the dying CNN or MSNBC. There must be something missing in your reality regarding where the heart of the citizenry can be found.

      1. ZZ, we all realize Dennis is interested in indoctrinating K-grade three kids into the sexual identities of others. The law intends to prevent such indoctrination of K-3 before they can understand the concepts involved. Dennis doesn’t understand the law.

        1. RE:”Dennis doesn’t understand the law.” Disagree! Dennis and others of his ilk, whom I’ve characterized in my comments, understand the law very well. They are fearful of it enough to denigrate and discredit it by assigning to it their equivalent of ‘The N-Word’. When you consider the expressions of glee of the Disney employee who publicly stated how, now to the company’s expressed opposition to the law and changes in policy, she now felt comfortable inserting ‘all the queer’ that she desired into her work, the threat to their agenda is clear. This subset has taken the position that children, confused about gender assignment, ‘retreat into the closet’ at a very young age, and these activist wish to be able to abrogate parental rights so as to intervene early on to prevent that from happening.

          1. ZZ, you may be right, but I think you give too much credit to Dennis. A lot of these highly partisan commenters have a limited source of news, so frequently they get things wrong. However, I agree that even if they knew exactly what the law said they would continue with the talking points of the left.

            1. RE: “””ZZ, you may be right, but I think you give too much credit to Dennis””‘ Perhaps, but I have no way to accurately assess his sources.

    2. There is no “Don’t Say Gay” law. Why would you feel the need to talk about sex to elementary children?

    3. Gee, Dennis, the only racists you decry are the white ones. I guess black racists like Darrell Brooks, Frank James and Micah Johnson, killers all, never count. Wonder why you only see evil in one shade?

  5. If I were this Professor reinstatement would not be enough. The cost would be much higher for the loss of finances and the destroying of his reputation. The only way that this woke business will stoped will be when the perpetrators feel the pain of the loss of their fortune and an explanation will have to be provided to their contributors. If youth think it can’t happen look at the drop in viewership at CNN.

  6. Today’s reveal at the Sussman trial. The FBI lied to its own agents, they assigned to work the ALPA bank scam. They were given a letter expaining the information came from the DoJ.

    That makes it clear, if the agent knew Sussmann was the source, they would have figured out it was all a political dirty ops before the morning coffee break. Off course, the FBI already knew that. Comey, under the pay and control of Clinton, was doing as he was told.

    1. Or, there was a bad mistake made somewhere along the way. Sussmann had previously worked for the DOJ, and perhaps someone took bad notes or misunderstood and then memorialized their mistake. Hard to know without more info.

      These excerpts from the trial transcript — and FBI Agent Ryan Gaynor’s notes from Fall of 2016, hyperlinked in the article — certainly indicate that people were aware early on that Sussmann was associated with the DNC and also with the white paper: https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/05/24/the-fbi-believed-michael-sussmann-was-working-for-the-dnc-until-andrew-defilippis-coached-them-to-believe-otherwise/

      So there’s conflicting info about what different FBI agents knew.

      BTW, that DX # at the bottom of the Washington Examiner’s copy of the letter you’re referring to indicates that the letter is an exhibit introduced by defense counsel. Perhaps they’re introducing it to show how inconsistent the FBI’s own notes about this are? (I don’t know.)

  8. (OT)

    14 more children and a teacher were murdered in a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school this afternoon by a gunman — an 18-year-old male who Gov. Abbott said attended Uvalde High School. That gunman is also dead, and apparently shot his grandmother before going to the elementary school. In addition to the deaths, others are injured.

    The NRA will hold its annual meeting in Texas on Friday.

    Former ATF Special Agent in Charge Jim Cavanaugh: “If guns made us safer, Texas would be the safest place on Earth.”

    Sen Murphy: “Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate, why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in position of authority if your answer as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?”
    “Nowhere else do parents have to talk to their kids as I have had to do about why they got locked into a bathroom and told to be quiet for five minutes just in case a bad man entered that building. Nowhere else does that happen except here in the USA. And it is a choice.”
    “I’m here on this floor to beg, to literally get down on my hands and knees and beg my colleagues. Find a path forward here. Work with us to find a way to pass laws that make this less likely.”

    There have already been more than 2 dozen school shootings this year.

    1. 29 more blacks were murdered in Chicago this past weekend by a blacks. That gunmen apparently shot black children who were bystanders. In addition to the deaths, others are injured.

      The BLM will hold its annual meeting in Chicago on Friday, presumably at the BLM mansion in a white neighborhood

      Chicago Mayor statement: “Black lives matter”

        1. I don’t know about you but I actively search out woke basketball coaches for advice on social problems and civil rights issues just like I call sociologists and lawyers when I’m puzzled by the matchup zone defense.

          1. An ironic comment given that you happily echo the opinions of non-lawyers here.

            Kerr’s comment was posted in the account of a lawyer I follow, and it captures both of our anger. IDGAF whether you approve of his message.

            1. Aninny:
              “An ironic comment given that you happily echo the opinions of non-lawyers here.Kerr’s comment was posted in the account of a lawyer I follow, and it captures both of our anger. IDGAF whether you approve of his message.”
              *****************************
              No echoing here. Like with most things, you’re very confused. Oh and Kerr’s a real Metternich alright. I recall he named his kid “Nick.” Nick Kerr. That’s not clueless. Nope.

              Oh I think you care – a lot- cause you know I love liberal tears — especially the red-faced angry ones. Primo.

    3. Sen Murphy has hated the concept of the Freedom of American Citizens for decades & he & other continue to attack to get rid of our power.

      He’s still running that crap over Sandy Hook… More on that case later as his goons are caught, I think.

      There have been attacks on schools for centuries.

      Why the hell wasn’t there armed teachers or other people there for security making it a hard target?

      Relatives need to sue the hell out of these schools for not having a security plan if they didn’t have one.

      What the hell kind of big Pharma SSRI Dope was this guy on? Why is the US Border Wide Open for Biden/Dems/Rino’s Dope?

      And let’s look at the logical of every Amer. giving up their 2nd Amd Right or other Rights because one person goes nuts.

      If that logic worked you anti 2nd people should just go ahead & cur your penis’ off & you’ll be able to stop rape.

      1. By your logic, abortion shouldn’t be illegal either, because making it illegal will not stop it.

        1. By the US Court’s Logic the yet to be Born Citizen have the same Rights as a Human as you or I do to have his/their due process Rights heard in court.

          And if we are taking about a Mass Shootings & Deaths we have to look at the mRNA Death/Clots Shoots as Robert Kennedy Jr. & Robert Barnes are filing/arguing cases in court, as I post here on this thread twice under the Sassmann case.

          Currently my numbers are showing me 1 mill to 1.3 million murdered & climbing Daily by the govt/pharma death/clot jabs plus the masses of injured.

          The Govt is admitted to 28,000 dead because of their Mass Shooting plus their injured count!!!

          2. Constitutional rights begin at birth, when personhood is established.

            1. RE:””Constitutional rights begin at birth, when personhood is established” Interesting! If you electively terminate a viable fetus it is not murder. If you kill a pregnant woman and the fetus as described herein dies, its a double murder. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unborn_Victims_of_Violence_Act Seems to me that the entity so described deserves the benefit of rational right to life legislation.

              1. My friends’ son was going to die without a bone marrow transplant. A donor volunteered, and their son is alive. But their son had no right to demand that the donor provide bone marrow; it was the donor’s choice. It is likewise the pregnant woman’s choice; the embryo cannot demand that she carry the pregnancy to term.

                1. RE: “””t is likewise the pregnant woman’s choice; the embryo cannot demand that she carry the pregnancy to term””” Familiarize yourself regarding the difference between an embryo and a fetus. Review Roe v Wade as well as Casey and carefully. See how the Court analyses and speaks to the particulars the first, second and third trimesters of a pregnancy and at what point the interests of the State come into play. Those rulings have relevant content, They were NOT intended to legalize abortion carte blanche, a fact about which the pro-choice movement has been definitely confused this past half century.

    4. Arm the teachers and hire guards for schools like we do courthouses and statehouses.

      1. AJ of Infowars in extended coverage tonight has just said the same as you.

        It’s so simple, but Aholes seem to wish it to stay the same for “Their Issue” while they “Argue” for their “Abortion Issue”.

        They have no shame.

        They have to be under demonic control it seems to me.

      2. Cops engaged the shooter. But he was wearing body armor and managed to get into the school anyway.

          1. He killed over 20 people first, so don’t pretend that cops being on school grounds will prevent these mass murders.

            1. He killed over X number of unarmed people. Why were they not Armed?

              Was the claimed shooter the real shooter or part of yet another CIA/etc. black bag Op?

              I don’t believe anything about it just yet.

              Somewhere last Saturday I finally seen a NIST(sic) report that they could no long stand behind their theory of the what caused building #7 falling into it’s footprint 2001!

              Remember, Larry Silverstein video…. they said, (GW or Cheney) “Pull It” so we Pulled it.

              I’ve got to look for that, it’s a massive story. With the building 7 story a complete Fraud the whole story falls apart.

              1. Why were they not armed?!?!?
                Because 19 of them were little kids!!!!!

                You are a deeply, deeply sick conspiracy theorist that your first response is to ask questions like “Was the claimed shooter the real shooter or part of yet another CIA/etc. black bag Op?” I truly feel sorry for you, and for your family that they have to live with a conspiracy theorist in their midst.

              2. Building 7 fell from internal fire and damage. This is well understood.

    5. Victims killed in Texas school shooting is now at 19 children, two adults.

  9. Of course there’s black privilege. From Affirmative Action, demand for reparations, black-only colleges, release of mostly black violent criminals from jails, especially by justice Jackson, to the Black Caucus, NAACP and BLM, and Biden’s nominees for the color of their skin.

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