Remember me
Idris Robinson, a tenure-track assistant professor of philosophy at Texas State University, is suing several university officials for violating his constitutional rights after they told him he would have his contract terminated in May, because of complaints about a talk he gave last year “on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict off-campus in another state where a fight broke out,” reports The Guardian.
The Guardian reports:
Robinson gave the talk, titled Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance, on 29 June 2024, in Asheville, North Carolina. At no point during the event did he reference Texas State, or his affiliation with the school, he told the Guardian.
The talk was never finished, as a scuffle broke out after several minutes, when an audience member alerted the room that several pro-Israel attendees were livestreaming the event. Robinson was led out of the room by an audience member. Police responded to the fight. A 44-page Asheville police department report concluded six months later and seen by the Guardian does not mention Robinson, either as a witness to the fight or as a suspect.
Robinson, however, found himself the target of pro-Israel social media campaigners. The first post appeared on Instagram on 5 June 2025. That same night, Robinson’s supervisor, department chair Craig Hanks, contacted him to say that “strange calls” were coming into the university, according to the complaint.
A day later, senior vice-provost Vedaraman Sriraman emailed Robinson to inform him he was being put on administrative leave, “following the receipt and internal assessment of multiple complaints and allegations regarding an incident that occurred in the summer of 2024”, according to the lawsuit. The following month, on 8 July, the administration sent him an email telling him his contract would be terminated in May of this year.
Robinson appealed against the decision and the school denied the appeal. The Guardian has seen university emails from this timeline; the suspension, termination of contract and the denial of appeal did not offer a substantive explanation for each decision and make no reference to specific rules, regulations or laws that may have been violated…
Robinson alleges that the school’s actions violated his first and 14th amendment rights. He is also seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the university from firing him.
This is a blatant violation of Professor Robinson’s academic freedom and free speech rights.
More details are at The Guardian.
(via Jonathan Peterson)
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