Charles Negy was fired over a tweet — now he's having his day in court
www.thefire.org
A judge says UCF can’t dodge a professor’s First Amendment lawsuit — meaning campus cancel culture might soon get its day in court.

I post this here because I think there is a interesting discussion out of this, what do you people think about this?

In the summer of 2020, two issues dominated the headlines: the COVID pandemic and the widespread unrest surrounding George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, and the “racial reckoning.” It was in this environment, with the country also at or near the apex of “cancel culture,” that the University of Central Florida tried to fire associate professor of psychology Charles Negy for his tweets about race and society. Negy fought back and sued.

Five years later, his lawsuit continues — and last week, it brought good news not just for Professor Negy but for everyone who cares about free speech on campus.

Last week, Judge Carlos E. Mendoza of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled that Negy’s lawsuit could proceed against four of the five administrators he sued. Importantly, the court denied claims of qualified immunity, a doctrine that says public officials aren’t liable for unconstitutional activity unless they knew or should have known their actions were unconstitutional. By denying qualified immunity to UCF’s administrators, Judge Mendoza formally recognized what was obvious from the very beginning: UCF knew or should have known that what it was doing violated the First Amendment, but they went ahead and did it anyway.

  • rowdyrockets@lemm.eeEnglish
    17·
    1 month ago

    First things first, fuck this article and fuck their ugly-ass AI slop.

    Secondly, I’m not gonna comment on the legality or what is protected under 1st amendment- it’s not my expertise. Negy is a piece of shit and everyone I knew who had him as a professor was glad he was gone. His hateful comments weren’t reserved for twitter - he said that shit during his lectures. I also suspect his tweets were a stunt to drum up sales for a book he published around the same time. It’s so easy to sell to conservative morons. Just say some inappropriate things, cry like a baby when the consequences of your actions appear, then hold out your hand as hicks, the sexually repressed, and just plain assholes come flocking to empty their wallets for you.

  • chrash0@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    1 month ago

    is there such a thing as “legitimate criticism” against an entire race of people? this writer is bonkers, and you can tell from the intro. seems like the actual content of the post was buried beneath the first paragraph where a rare few would find it. maybe it was wrong or illegal to fire this guy for being a racist asshole (being a state funded org or something?), but couching it in this narrative of “cancel culture” and “a violation of the first amendment” has fashy vibes to me. institutions should be allowed to control the narrative set by their employees. i understand that as part of my company my words reflect on them, and it’s up to their discretion whether they want to continue to associate with me based on the things i say. you have every right to say racist shit on your favorite fascist-owned platform, but everyone else has the right to tell you to fuck off.

    also big downvote for posting this in a technology community