Professor's free speech claims after being disciplined for using racial epithets in class can move forward

SAN DIEGO (CN) — A California judge ruled Friday that a San Diego philosophy professor can continue to argue his constitutional violation claims that he was wrongfully disciplined by his university for using racial epithets during class in a pedagogically appropriate way, though he won’t be able to pursue similar claims for his use of gendered slurs in class.

J. Angelo Corlett, a tenured philosophy professor at San Diego State University, claims university officials violated his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to freedom of expression, academic freedom and due process when they denied a grievance form Corlett submitted when his classes were reassigned after student complained he used the N-word and gendered terms like “pussy” and “bitch,” while teaching.

“Because plaintiff’s use of the ‘n-word’ during Philosophy 200 was germane to the subject matter, the court finds that plaintiff has met his burden of alleging that his speech related to a public concern under the first prong of the Pickering test,” wrote U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson, a Donald Trump appointee, in his Friday order on the defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings.

But that was just about the only thing Robinson allowed Corlett to continue his lawsuit with.

Students in two of Corlett’s classes in the spring semester in 2022 complained about his use of gendered slurs to describe people as weak, and also said his attempt to parse out the concept of the analytic philosophy concept of use-mention distinction of intent by showing a PowerPoint list of slurs to students and discussing Black comedians’ usage of racial epithets went too far.

Although he was never accused of directing racial epithets at students, some complained to administrators that his use of the words created a toxic environment and made students uncomfortable.

Because Corlett couldn’t recall using some gendered slurs, and he didn’t address using others, or how those words related to the subject of his political philosophy class he was accused of using them in, Robinson dismissed Corlett’s claim that the university violated his constitutional rights for those instances.

Robinson also dismissed Corlett’s due process claims against the university provost after he was stripped of teaching duties for two of his classes. The university had pursued an investigation over race and gender harassment complaints and later suspended him for one semester without pay for unprofessional conduct.

This prompted Corlett’s lawsuit in San Diego federal court against William Tong, the interim provost and senior vice president of the school and Monica Casper, the former Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, along with 50 other administrators for denying his appeals to be reassigned back to his classes.

Corlett said his actions were not “harassment because of” the students’ protected statuses, but the judge disagreed with his argument that the school’s nondiscrimination policy was void because it was too vague and subjective.

“Not only is the word ‘harassment’ reasonably understood by those of ordinary intelligence, but plaintiff’s argument that the definition of ‘because of’ is unconstitutionally vague is also without merit,” Robinson wrote, citing previous cases that establishes that use of terms like “pussy” or “bitch” have been considered sex-based harassment regardless of intent.

Robinson also dismissed Corlett’s claims for damages from the defendants in both their official and individual capacities because in their official capacities, they’re protected under sovereign immunity doctrine. Corlett’s claims seeking damages against them in their individual capacities was also denied, since they’re also protected under qualified immunity.

Corlett can still seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the defendants in their individual capacities. He has 21 days to amend his complaint.

Attorneys for both Corlett and the defendants did not immediately return requests for comment.

Corlett teaches and specializes in topics like ethics, social and political philosophy, the philosophy of law and how it intersects with racism, justice, and the use of language. His published works include books and essays like “Race, Rights, and Justice,” “Offesniphobia,” and “Heirs of Oppression: Racism and Reparations,” which, according to his SDSU faculty page, argues in favor of reparations for Black Americans and Native Americans.