Last month, academic freedom and the First Amendment scored a major victory when a federal jury found that the University of North Carolina-Wilmington had retaliated against conservative Christian professor Dr. Mike Adams. Despite a track record of success at the public university, the criminology professor was denied a promotion to full professor because of his social and political views.
When Townhall first reported the story, the jury’s verdict was only for liability. This week, however, we learned of even more good news for Adams, a Townhall columnist.
“[T]he judge ruled – holding that Dr. Adams was entitled to receive the promotion he was wrongly denied, the pay increase he was entitled to, and back pay to compensate him for lost income,” the ACLJ, who represents Adams along with Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Travis Barham, wrote on Tuesday. “This ruling sends a message to public universities: academic freedom isn’t just for the Left, it’s a constitutional right for all professors -- even Christian conservatives.”
The verdict and the judge’s ruling are encouraging and certainly a victory on many fronts, but as the ACLJ notes, the battle to defend our nation’s fundamental freedoms isn’t over.