Another University of Florida professor is suing the university over academic freedom issues after he allegedly received conflicting directives about online instruction during the fall semester and was placed on involuntary administrative leave for “disruptive” behavior.
English professor Richard Burt filed the lawsuit March 29 in the Northern District of Florida’s Gainesville division, contending he was ordered to submit to a “Soviet-style” mental health exam after he informed his classes that he had been ordered by administrators to teach face to face rather than via Zoom, despite his health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burt is teaching classes during the current semester, but he will be suspended for five days without pay at the end of the session, according to his attorney, Richard Johnson. The professor is accused of expression that was insubordinate, inflammatory and unprofessional, he said.
“I know there is sort of a general climate of intimidation at the University of Florida,” Johnson told the Florida Record. “And even though they’ve got a collective bargaining agreement with the faculty that imposes an affirmative obligation on the management of the university … to stand up to outside efforts from political and other figures to interfere with free speech, the administrators are not fulfilling that obligation.”
The lawsuit accuses university President W. Kent Fuchs and other officials of kowtowing to the chairman of the university’s Board of Trustees, Morteza “Mori” Hosseini. Hosseini meddled in university governance and worked to impose Gov. Ron DeSantis’ views on ending virtual instruction during the coronavirus pandemic, the complaint says.
"That's been the disappointment,” Johnson said. “The administrators are spineless, and they have no guts. They just succumb to whatever pressure politicians put on them."
The university has been beset by a pattern of actions that challenge professors’ ability to engage in academic freedom, he said. Last year, six other professors – who teach political science, law and medical topics – filed suit against the university, alleging that administrators initially blocked them from acting as expert witnesses in a legal action challenging a voting-rights law and challenged state policies dealing with the pandemic.
Burt’s lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as a court order barring Fuchs and other officials from violating professors’ free speech rights.