On November 25, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry sent a letter to the Louisiana Board of Supervisors touting his executive order on protecting free speech on college campuses while urging the Board to discipline Louisiana State University Professor Nicholas Bryner for comments about the election results he made in his administrative law class.

The comments in question were made during a November 6 lecture where Professor Bryner said the following:

I don’t know who you all voted for. Some of you in the room voted for Harris, some voted for Trump, some of you maybe didn’t vote at all, or voted for somebody else, but if your vote, I don’t mean any of you individually in particular, if you voted for Trump and your rationale for voting for Trump, that you don’t like him personally, but that you like his policies... I'll just say that it is on you to prove that by the way you conduct yourself and by the way that you treat other people around you, because I will say that I hear a lot about how groups of people in the law school, particularly black students, don’t feel comfortable in the law school, don't feel welcome here. And so I want you all to think a little bit about why that is. And... I don’t know if anybody falls in that category, but if you voted for Trump on the idea that you don’t like him personally but that you like his policies. I just want you to think about the message that that sends to other people and how you can prove that, by treating other people in a way that matches that sentiment. So, think I'm going to leave it there, again, my job is not to teach you politics, my job is to teach you about the law. The law is going to change, and administrative law is going to change. I perceive this vote as really like a rejection of the idea that we are governed by a people with expertise, there is a lot in administrative law about ensuring that the government makes rational decisions, right, that's the arbitrary and capricious test. Is the government acting and making rational decisions, is there space for you know, reviewing whether the government has acted, rationally with adequate reasons to support what it's doing, decisions that are, you know, ideally based on evidence, evidence-backed decision-making, but there’s a pretty big rejection of that idea that we should be governed by experts and so I think it’s worthwhile to consider that, and think about that as you go into law school, you know, finish your law school career and go into law practice, how you're going to handle that type of sentiment. [Transcribed by Gov. Landry’s office and lightly edited, e.g., to remove verbal ticks.]

In his letter, Governor Landry argues, “a professor or instructor imposing their political views onto a student is strictly prohibited by state law, and it stands in direct contrast to our state and federal constitutions, as well as LSU’s Policy on Academic Freedom.” Louisiana’s state law “protect[s] students from discrimination on the basis of political ideas, affiliations, or ideology.” It specifically states:

C. No professor or instructor who teaches a class to students at an institution of higher education shall impose the professor's or instructor's political views onto students and, therefore, shall be prohibited from doing any of the following:

(1) Requiring a student to attend a political protest or engage in any other political activity outside the classroom that aligns with the political views of the professor or instructor.

(2) Requiring a student to participate in a certain political activity outside the classroom as a condition of obtaining the letter grade to which the student would otherwise be entitled based upon the student's actual academic performance in the class.

Governor Landry’s letter continued, “If the school does not discipline Mr. Bryner for his comments, I hope that the Board will look into the matter, as LSU professors are prohibited from utilizing state resources to influence public policy.”

HxA shares the view that no student should be discriminated against by their professors or their institution for their political views. However, nothing in Professor Bryner’s remarks constitutes discrimination.

Professor Bryner did not require his students to attend a political protest or engage in any political activity outside of class. Nor did he condition obtaining a letter grade on students’ participation in political activity. There was no quid pro quo. And it's a stretch to see how a call to demonstrate civility (even a call directed at only a political subset) would create a hostile environment. According to the Supreme Court, a hostile environment is established in the educational context only when the conduct in question is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive the victims of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school.”

According to the longstanding AAUP guidance, faculty should “avoid persistently intruding material which has no relation to their subject.” LSU’s academic freedom policy also says, “Teachers and investigators are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject but should not introduce information or topics which have no relation to the subject being instructed.” (Emphasis added.) The persistence requirement is important, because every professor has probably said things that they would articulate differently, or not at all, upon reflection. If every one-off political tangent led to Gubernatorial oversight, the academic environment would be quite chilling.

As the Supreme Court has powerfully stated, “The essentiality of freedom in the community of American universities is almost self-evident...To impose any strait jacket upon the intellectual leaders in our colleges and universities would imperil the future of our Nation.”

The norms of academic freedom, as well as the First Amendment, protect professors from sanctions for classroom expression, unless the speech meets an exception to the First Amendment, or the professor persistently uses class time for expression that lacks germaneness.

Governor Landry is within his rights to criticize Professor Bryner for using class time to single out potential Trump voters in his class with a call for them to treat others better. It is on everyone—regardless of their politics—to treat each other with respect, and HxA questions whether targeting only some students for their politics meets that standard.

But academic freedom provides broad protection for professors, even when their expressions are perceived as rude, uncivil, or politically biased. This expansive protection is essential for fostering an environment where open inquiry can flourish. It prevents conservative lawmakers from using their influence to punish progressive faculty and prevents progressive lawmakers from targeting conservative faculty. For this reason, LSU and Louisiana's Board of Supervisors must reject the Governor's call to sanction Professor Bryner.

Photo of mascot Mike the Tiger from LSU.