Opinion ID: 568042
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Immaterial Facts

Text: 24 Miles argues that factual disputes remain regarding whether he named the student, whether the rumor about the alleged incident was true, whether the incident was generally known in the school, and whether other students knew who the participants were. Miles' argument is without merit. The factual issues Miles raises are not material under the Hazelwood standard. See Hazelwood, 484 U.S. at 273, 108 S.Ct. at 571. Therefore summary judgment is appropriate based on Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). D. Academic Freedom 25 Finally, Miles contends the school's actions violate his first amendment academic freedom rights. The Supreme Court has recognized a university's institutional right to academic freedom. See, e.g., Regents of Univ. of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 311-12, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 2759-60, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978) (citing Sweezy v. New Hampshire, 354 U.S. 234, 263, 77 S.Ct. 1203, 1218, 1 L.Ed.2d 1311 (1957) (Frankfurter, J., concurring)). At least one lower court has recognized an individual right to academic freedom under limited circumstances in the university setting. See Parate v. Isibor, 868 F.2d 821, 830-31 (6th Cir.1989) (university professor's right of academic freedom not violated because the dean's interference did not cast pall of orthodoxy over professor's classroom expression). However, the caselaw does not support Miles' position that a secondary school teacher has a constitutional right to academic freedom. See Board of Educ., Island Trees Union Free School Dist. No. 26 v. Pico, 457 U.S. 853, 920, 102 S.Ct. 2799, 2835, 73 L.Ed.2d 435 (1982) (Rehnquist, J., dissenting) (state as educator subject to fewer strictures when regulating speech in primary and secondary schools than university; school officials may determine that particular subject is not suitable for education of secondary school children); Adams v. Campbell City School Dist., 511 F.2d 1242, 1247 (10th Cir.1975) (teacher does not have unlimited liberty as to structure and content of the courses, at least at the secondary level); see also Bishop, 926 F.2d at 1075 (finding no support for individual academic freedom right of university professor); Byrne, Academic Freedom: A Special Concern of the First Amendment, 99 Yale L.J. 251, 255 (1989) (constitutional academic freedom should primarily insulate the university in core academic affairs from interference from the state). The school's mild restrictions of Miles' classroom expression here simply do not threaten to cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom. Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 603, 87 S.Ct. 675, 683, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 (1967). We find no merit in the argument that Miles has a constitutional right--based on academic freedom or something else--that protects his substantiation of a rumor in a classroom setting.