Cancellings
See also Nondisclosure Clauses.
- "THE NEW PURITANS", Atlantic (2021) by Ann Applebaum is a good survey with lots of specifics about cancellings and the various effects on its victims.
Contents
- 1 Boudreau (Central Michigan, 2021)
- 2 Amy Chua (Yale Law)
- 3 The Popeye's Chicken Party (Yale Law)
- 4 Jed DeVaro ( Cal State-East Bay econ)
- 5 Roland Fryer (Harvard econ, 2019)
- 6 Timothy Jackson, North Texas, Musicology
- 7 Diane Klein (LaVerne, Chapman)
- 8 Gordon Klein
- 9 John Kluge (Indiana schoolteacher)
- 10 John MacAdams (Marquette, 2018)
- 11 Meriwether (Ohio, gender pronouns)
- 12 Joseph Petry (Illinois)
- 13 Stephen Porter (NC State, 2021)
- 14 J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law)
- 15 Amy Wax (Penn Law)
- 16 Level 2 and 3 Witch Hunts
Boudreau (Central Michigan, 2021)
- A FOIA request got the settlement agreement. See Volokh Conspiracy.
Prof. Boudreau, who was represented by a lawyer from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, withdrew any claims he might have against CMU, retired from CMU (he was apparently eligible for retirement), and in exchange received 10 months' salary and benefits (from Sept. 1, 2020 when he had been fired, to June 30, 2021, the end of this academic year).
5. Dr. Boudreau shall be paid in a lump sum, less normal withholding taxes the value of pay and CMU's contribution to benefits through June 30, 2021 within thirty (30) days of this settlement. A W-2 will be issued for this payment.
15. Dr. Boudreau agrees that the terms of this Release, including the payment made hereunder, are confidential and shall not be divulged to any third party except his spouse, tax advisor, CPA, wealth manager, and/or his attorneys who shall be advised of this confidentiality provision. Dr. Boudreau shall not be held liable for breach of this confidentiality clause in the event he is compelled via subpoena to under oath in court of law regarding details or terms of his severance and/or settlement agreement provided that he gives prompt notice to the CMU's General Counsel so CMU has the opportunity to object to the subpoena.
16. In the event that Dr. Boudreau violates any aspect of this Agreement, he acknowledges that said breach shall cause damage to CMU. The parties understand that CMU may have to reveal the terms pursuant to FOIA unrelated to any request by the Union or Dr. Boudreau, who agree not to make, encourage, or otherwise participate in such request.
19. Dr. Boudreau shall not, by oral or written expression or any other act of communication to any third party, by name, disparage, criticize, or impugn the reputation or character of CMU's curent or former Board of Trustees members, Board of Trustees, administrators, directors, other employees,eagents and representatives, both individually and in their official capacities (Releas6s). This provision shall not be construed to prohibit Dr. Boudreau from communicating his disagreement with CMU's decision to terminate his employment for the way he spoke various words including the "n-word", his criticism of CMU's decision and generally his beliefs and opinion on the efficacy of his teaching methods. Dr. Boudreau further agrees that this provision concerning non-disparagement is a material condition ofthe consideration contained herein, that this provision is an essential part of this Agreement, and that any violation ofthe terms ofthis paragraph shall be deemed a material breach of the entire Agreement.
21. Dr. Boudreau agrees that this Agreement shall be binding and inure to the benefit of his successors, executors, administrators, personal representatives and assigns, and to the benefit of the predecessors, successors, and assigns of the Releasees, and further agrees and acknowledges that this Agreement contains and comprises the entire agreement and understandings of the parties, and that there are no additional promises or terms of this Agreement, other than those contained within this document and the documents referenced herein.
23. If any provision of this Agreement shall for any reason be held invalid, illegal, unenforceable, or in conflict with any law governing this Agreement, the validity of the remaining portions of this Agreement shall not be affected but shall continue in full legal force and effect to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Observations:
- (1) He can talk about the incident he was fired for.
- (2) He can disparage the University, just not the various individuals who are to blame for any university scandals he may reveal.
- (3) The University and its officials are free to disparage him however much they want.
- (4) No damages are specified for breach of the clause. He is paid his settlement money within 30 days, and there are no liquidated damages. Presumably the damages would be the default of expectation damages, which in this case would be like defamation damages except he would be liable for harm caused even by truthful statements about public figures.
Amy Chua (Yale Law)
See her individual page at Amy Chua.
The Popeye's Chicken Party (Yale Law)
Jed DeVaro ( Cal State-East Bay econ)
- "Professors not immune to gender inequality: Jung Sook You, CSUEB," The Pioneer, November 30, 2020.
Roland Fryer (Harvard econ, 2019)
- "Harvard, the NY Times and the #MeToo Takedown of a Black Academic Star," Stuart Taylor Jr., RealClearInvestigations, January 29, 2019.
- "The Lynching of Roland Fryer," Substack (2021).
Timothy Jackson, North Texas, Musicology
- A long article in The New York Times.
- His legal Complaint in federal court, and full 300-plus page complaint plus exhibits A through V
- Commentary:
- Webcast with Michael Thadd Allen and Prof. Jackson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BYEmzYAMok&t=1825s
Diane Klein (LaVerne, Chapman)
- "Law professor says university fired her by ‘racializing’ criticism of black colleague’s performance," CHRISTIAN LUBKE (AUGUST 26, 2020).
In a meeting on the future of the law school last fall, Klein told colleagues that they must decide “whether we are willing to assassinate” Assistant Dean Jendayi Saada, who runs the Center for Academic and Bar Readiness.
- Insider Higher Education article.
- Petition from Laverne faculty in support of KLein.
- Chapman Law teaching schedule.
Gordon Klein
- A page at has better information than I have here.
- My June 29 blog write-up with links about Klein's situation. It has a link to the very good Larry O'Connor show interview audio.
- Summer 2020: Long and detailed FIRE letter to UCLA.
- Summer 2020: "Statement of the Committee on Academic Freedom," the U of California system committee chaired by Professor Eugene Volokh. Susannah Lohman is a member too.
- Summer 2020: "Fire Dean Bernardo" petition with 1,200 signatures and 34 pages of comments.
- October 2020: "UCLA reinstated Gordon Klein. Who will reinstate his reputation?" Alex Morey, FIRE.org. This is a very good interview with Gordon Klein in which he carefully praises FIRE and the Committee on Academic Freedom and, it looks like to me, paves the way for a possible lawsuit on breach of confidentiality by Dean Bernardo. Very good photo of Klein at the top, too.
- The UCLA AAUP leadership, which includes Susannah Lohman; and the AAUP State of California leadership.
John Kluge (Indiana schoolteacher)
John MacAdams (Marquette, 2018)
"John McAdams, political science professor who took Marquette to the state Supreme Court, dies," Devi Shastri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 15, 2021.
Meriwether (Ohio, gender pronouns)
See Meriwether Case of Administration Persecution. Not a cancelling case, really, if I remember right; a wokeness case, though.
Joseph Petry (Illinois)
- Feb. 28, 2020 University Report online.
- June 11, 2020 News Release by Thies-Webber.
- January 27, 2021 News Release by Thies-Webber after winning on the motion to dismiss, with the Complaint and Motion to Dismiss and Objection to the Motion to Dismiss and Decision. This is the key document.
- Jan 28, 2021 "Ex-professor's breach-of-contract suit against UI can proceed, judge decides," Ben Zigterman [email protected],.
- FEBRUARY 9, 2021, "Judge approves professor’s lawsuit against university for baseless grades-for-sex investigation," HENRY KOKKELER - WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY. This is a very informative article.
Stephen Porter (NC State, 2021)
"“Death by a Thousand Cuts”: Professor Files Lawsuit Against NC State University," Inside Higher Education, Oct. 11, 2021, Shannon Watkins.
J. Mark Ramseyer (Harvard Law)
See his individual page at J. Mark Ramseyer.
Amy Wax (Penn Law)
- https://newcriterion.com/issues/2018/4/fahrenheit-451-updated 2018 New Criterion article]
Level 2 and 3 Witch Hunts
2021 and 2019 ( Paul Graham
We can classify witch hunts by how long such paths can be. E.g. in a level 3 witch hunt, you can be targeted for defending someone who defended someone who was targeted. I saw that happen in 2020. I don't think I've seen 4 hops yet though.
It happened to me. A mob came after me when I tweeted this because they thought I was defending Stallman for defending Minsky. (Actually I wasn't. Stallman just happened to be one of two people getting cancelled then.)
Sep 17, 2019
If we extended human lifespans sufficiently, everyone would be cancelled. The drift in moral fashion would ensure that even those most carefully orthodox in their opinions would have said something that later became heretical.
2019 had 245 comments and 105 quote retweets and 2K Likes.