Evidence of Unconstitutional University Policy Excluded from Tracy v. FAU Trial
Channel: People Over Politics
Date: 2017-12-29

This is an excerpt a meeting between Florida Atlantic University ("FAU") administrators and faculty members recorded on September 4, 2015 concerning the public university's vague and confusing "Outside Activities" Policy. Shortly after the meeting, the Policy was used by FAU officials as a pretext to terminate tenured Associate Professor James Tracy in retaliation for his personal blogging.

The transcript of the recording is available here: http://bit.ly/2pVmuZp

After Professor Tracy filed a First Amendment retaliation suit against FAU and the senior officials behind the unlawful termination, United States District Court Judge Robin Rosenberg excluded from Professor Tracy's trial this record evidence, including admissions of university employees and officials about the unconstitutional policy. 

The Court also excluded any reference to the meeting by any witnesses at trial, as "irrelevant" and too prejudicial to the Defendant University. As a result, Professor Tracy was unable to show the jury that the Vice Provost (who terminated Tracy for purported non-compliance with the Policy) was on record just months before the termination admitting that the form Tracy was fired for not filling out properly required clarity, and had been undergoing administrative review and changes for years...

To learn more about the case, see: http://peopleoverpolitics.org/2017/12/29/legalizing-pretext/