Ohio Northern Pulls Law Professor Out of Classroom … But Will Not Explain Why

Ohio Northern University’s Petite College of Law has a curious view of due process.  The law school sent security officers into the class of Professor Scott Gerber in April and removed him from the class.  He was then barred from teaching or even coming on campus. If you think it must have been something unspeakable, you are right. No one has yet to fully explain to Gerber why he has been subject to these measures. I have been waiting to write on the case because I assumed the law school would be forthcoming on the details. It has not despite a growing number of calls for explanations of the underlying claims being made against this academic.

Gerber has been on the faculty since 2001. In addition to an impressive array of publications, he is an associated scholar at Brown University’s Political Theory Project and a member of the Ohio Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He is also a four-time winner of the Fowler V. Harper Award for excellence in legal scholarship and a three-time recipient of the Daniel S. Guy Award for excellence in legal journalism. In 2020, he was awarded the inaugural Christopher Collier Prize from the Connecticut Supreme Court Historical Society.

That record would seem to entitle him to a modicum of due process before being yanked from his class — or at least an explanation shortly thereafter. However, neither Dean Charles Rose nor his staff have supplied the information despite a wide array of groups and academics objecting to the treatment of the professor.

Gerber wrote about his experience in a May 9 op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. He said that, after armed security removed him from this class, he was told to sign a separation agreement and release of claims by April 21, or ONU would commence dismissal proceedings. The grounds, he alleged, is a lack of “collegiality” with no other explanation.

Gerber’s treatment has raised concerns because he is a conservative writer and has objected to diversity, equity and inclusion policies.  Indeed, just days before his removal, Gerber wrote an op-ed in The Hill defending U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. (For the record, I write a regular column for The Hill).

Gerber says that an investigation began in January 2023, but school officials refused to tell him the grounds. He refused to participate until he was given details on the charges.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is now involved in the case on his behalf.

Gerber also said that the American Association of University Professors notified campus leaders twice that “an absence of collegiality ought never, by itself, constitute a basis for nonreappointment, denial of tenure, or dismissal for cause.”

I am frankly perplexed by the position of the law school, which seems wholly at odds with core principles of due process. For a school that is rightfully proud of its success in trial advocacy, I assume students are given the charges or questions presented before trial or appellate arguments.