Stanford Teacher Fired in 1972 Loses Appeal for Reinstatement
A state appeals court ruled Friday against a former Stanford University professor who sought reinstatement to the teaching job he lost 13 years ago after being accused of inciting anti-war protests.
The lawsuit was filed by H. Bruce Franklin, who was a professor of English when he was fired in 1972 by Stanford trustees. He is the only tenured professor ever fired by Stanford.
The firing came after Franklin made a speech at a Feb. 10, 1971, rally protesting the U.S. invasion of Laos. After the speech, students occupied the Stanford computer center and more than 100 riot police were called to the scene.
Franklin, 51, now teaches at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. Alan Schlosser, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Franklin, had urged the 6th District Court of Appeal to award damages for the three years Franklin was out of work.
In 1978, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge John Flaherty upheld Franklin’s dismissal, but returned the case to Stanford for a second hearing over one of the speeches Franklin made. The faculty advisory board unanimously voted to uphold the decision, and Flaherty concurred in 1981.
It was Flaherty’s decisions that Franklin took to the state appellate court, which affirmed them today.
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