University of Texas tenured professor sues university for ‘making threats to his job’

By James On Feb 22, 2023

A tenured professor at the University of Texas at Austin sued the school after claiming the administration threatened his work when he criticized critical race theory as having “no scientific basis.”

Dr. Richard Lowery filed the lawsuit in federal court this month, claiming the university violated his constitutional right by punishing him for speaking out on controversial issues such as critical race theory and the school’s diversity policies.

As long as Lowery is a starter, the school could still strip him of his affiliation with the Salem Center, costing him a $20,000 stipend and research opportunities, which they threatened to do, his attorney said.

Dr. Lowery is an associate professor of finance at the McCombs School of Business and has been an outspoken critic of the school’s CRT promotion, previously saying digital new foxthat it has ‘no scientific basis’.

Dr. Richard Lowery, a tenured professor at the University of Texas at Austin, sued the school after they allegedly threatened his work when he criticized CRT for not having a scientific basis.

Dr. Lowery is an associate professor of finance at the McCombs School of Business and has been an outspoken critic of the school’s promotion of CRT.

Del Kolde is a senior attorney for the Institute for Free Speech representing Lowery, and he told Fox News Digital that the school threatened his work and that there was a ‘concerted effort’ by the school to ‘silence’ Lowery.

Lowery has been outspoken in criticizing school policies and has criticized the the school’s move toward diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies which he claimed were used to filter out academics who opposed progressive ideology.

But when he “criticized the actions of school officials, engaged in traditional campus academic discourse, and called on state government elected officials to oversee the operation of the school, UT officials campaigned to silence him,” the statement says. court file.

The presentation goes on to state that the school ‘threatened Lowery’s job, salary, institutional affiliation, and research opportunities if he did not shut up.

“In the atmosphere they fostered, one of Lowery’s colleagues even asked UT police to keep an eye on the professor because he might contact politicians or other influential people.”

Lowery “got the message” and began to calm down for fear of “retaliation,” according to the complaint, and began self-censoring, restricting his use of social media and altering the topics of his academic speeches, the court order says. ‘That damage continues. This court should put an end to this.

As long as Lowery is a starter, the school could still strip him of his Salem Center affiliation, costing him a $20K stipend and research opportunities, which they threatened to do.

The filing goes on to claim that the school “threatened Lowery’s job, salary, institutional affiliation, and research opportunities if he didn’t shut up.”

Lowery is an outspoken critic of UT Austin’s critical race theory and diversity policies.

The lawsuit filed this month asks the court to “bar UT officials from threatening or acting on threats made to Lowery for his protected speech” and also to declare that the “threats against Lowery amounted to an unconstitutional state action designed to freeze Lowery’s Protected Speech”. and retaliate against him.’

ng that the court ‘prohibit UT officials from threatening or acting on threats made to Lowery for his protected speech’ and also from declaring that the ‘threats against Lowery amounted to an unconstitutional state action designed to freeze Lowery’s protected speech and take reprisals against him.

Kolde told Fox News Digital that Lowery was exercising his right to free speech when he said taxpayer funds used to promote CRT and DEI amounted to “ideological indoctrination.”

“We are going to go to court on your behalf to protect your right to speak so you can start speaking again and be a part of the conversation,” Kolde said.

“All he asks is to be treated equally as other faculty members,” Kolde continued. “If you’re pro DEI at the University of Texas, you can talk all day about how great these DEI policies are.” . In fact, they have a grant program that pays people to speak on the subject.

The Institute for Free Speech issued a statement saying it had documentation of school officials conspiring to punish Lowery for his criticism.

This includes an alleged comment by Sheridan Titman, a business school official, who said: “We have to do something about Richard.”

“The injunction is the most important thing,” Kolde said.

‘Because otherwise, every time he opens his mouth he has to be worried, ‘Hell, are they going to try to dis-affiliate me from the Salem Center? Are they going to try to find other ways to mess with me and maybe even go after my possession?’

“You shouldn’t have to do that calculation as a public employee working for a public institution.”

CRITICAL RACE THEORY: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The fight for critical race theory in schools has intensified in the United States in recent years.

The theory has sparked a fierce nationwide debate in the wake of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests over the past year and the introduction of the 1619 Project.

The 1619 Project, which was published by the New York Times in 2019 to commemorate 400 years since the first enslaved Africans arrived on American shores, recasts American history by “placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the Center of the Narrative USA’.

The debate surrounding critical race theory addresses concerns that some children are being indoctrinated into thinking that white people are inherently racist or sexist.

Opponents of critical race theory have argued that it reduces people to categories of ‘privileged’ or ‘oppressed’ based on the color of their skin.

Supporters, however, say the theory is vital to eliminating racism because it examines the ways race influences American politics, culture and law.