Math professor who criticized college's 'lowered' standards lands win in free speech case

A math professor who alleges he faced "retaliation" for criticizing academic standards changes at his Reno, Nevada college has received a victory in a federal appeals court.

Lars Jensen, a tenured math professor at Truckee Meadows Community College ("TMCC"), filed a lawsuit against administrators in January 2022, claiming they reprimanded him and put him through a termination hearing after he criticized a policy change at the college that resulted in the "lowering" of academic standards in the math department.

While Jensen's case was dismissed by a district court in 2023, he received a win from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression ("FIRE") announced that the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's decision and sent the case back to the lower court for review.  

"We conclude that the district court erroneously dismissed Jensen's First Amendment retaliation claims," an opinion written by Circuit Judge Berzon stated. "We further conclude that Jensen did not adequately plead due process and equal protection claims, but the district court abused its discretion in denying Jensen leave to amend. Accordingly, we reverse and remand."

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In his legal complaint, Jensen claims that he was punished by the college after he spoke out against a curriculum policy change, adopted by the Nevada System of Higher Education, that prompted the TMCC math department to lower its academic standards for certain courses.

During a "Math Summit" in January 2020, Jensen claims he attempted to comment on the policy during a question and answer session. However, Dr. Julie Ellsworth, Dean of Sciences at TMCC, allegedly denied Jensen's request to speak and directed him to a whiteboard that was provided for participants to post comments.

The complaint says that Jensen went to his office and proceeded to type out his concerns on a handout, in which he argued the policy would "lower" the academic level of a Math 120 course in order to let students complete the course at current rates. He argued that lowering standards would adversely affect both graduates' abilities and local businesses in the community, who expect to hire qualified graduates from the college.

Jensen says he distributed his written comments to participants during the break, but Ellsworth collected his handouts and told Jensen he couldn't distribute them. The lawsuit states Jensen told her he was not being disruptive and left the room to distribute the handouts in another room before returning to the conference room to keep distributing the handouts. At this point, Ellsworth confronted Jensen and accused him of being a "bully" and "disobeying her" before telling him he had "made an error by defying her," the complaint alleges.

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One week after this incident, Ellsworth issued a letter of reprimand to Jensen. Jensen then emailed the entire TMCC faculty, reiterating his concerns about the academic standards changes. An official letter of reprimand was put in his personnel file on March 30, 2020, according to his complaint.

Jensen claims he faced pressure from Ellsworth to resign as chair and member of another professor's tenure committee. Ellsworth also began to raise concerns about Jensen's "punitive" syllabus policies, which had been in place for years and followed by other professors in the department, whom Ellsworth did not reprimand, the complaint alleges.

Following this, Jensen received two consecutive "unsatisfactory" performance reviews, the lowest possible rating, despite recommendations from the department chair that he be given an "excellent" rating. In the first performance evaluation, Ellsworth listed Jensen's "insubordination" at the math conference and his syllabus policies as her reasoning for the low score. 

Under the Nevada System of Higher Education guidelines, these performance reviews triggered a disciplinary hearing to determine if Jensen should be fired.

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FIRE wrote a letter warning the college they were violating Jensen's First Amendment rights, and TMCC later decided not to fire Jensen.

Jensen sued TMCC administrators in 2022, arguing the college's punitive actions had violated his First Amendment, due process and equal protection rights, but a district court dismissed the case in 2023, FIRE said.

The Ninth Circuit ruling Monday held that the district court was wrong to dismiss Jensen's First Amendment claim, saying that his speech about lowering academic standards in the college curriculum was a matter of public concern and thus would be protected by the First Amendment. The court also argued that the college's "interest in punishing a disobedient employee for speaking in violation of their supervisor's orders cannot automatically trump the employee's interest in speaking."

FIRE and Jensen hailed the recent ruling in a press release.

"This decision is a major victory for the free speech rights of academics," FIRE attorney Daniel Ortner, who argued the case before the Ninth Circuit panel in November 2024, said. "This decision will protect professors from investigation or threats of termination for their speech, and promote accountability for administrators who violate the First Amendment."

"The college's actions tarnished my reputation and chilled my speech," Jensen also said. "The Ninth Circuit's decision vindicates my First Amendment rights and allows me to have my day in court." 

Jensen's lawsuit names several Truckee Meadows Community College administrators and the former Chancellor of the Nevada System of Higher Education as defendants.

A Truckee Meadows Community College spokesperson said that they cannot comment on pending litigation or personnel matters.

The Nevada System of Higher Education did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.