Professor Wins Free-Speech Case

The South Orange County Community College District suffered another in a string of legal defeats this week when a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the chancellor’s disciplinary actions against a professor who had criticized the administration in satirical newsletters were unconstitutional.

Irvine Valley College philosophy professor Roy Bauer, who frequently publishes newsletters deeply critical of the district and college administration, was subjected to disciplinary action in December and ordered to seek anger management counseling. Without warning Bauer, Chancellor Cedric Sampson had placed a disciplinary letter in the professor’s personnel file, claiming that Bauer’s newsletters contained “verbal threats and violent behavior overtones” and were in violation of district policies.

Bauer filed suit against the district Dec. 31, charging that the actions violated his rights to free speech under the 1st Amendment.

In a tentative ruling in Los Angeles this week, U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess said the discipline leveled against Bauer was unconstitutional.

“No reasonable person could have concluded that the written words of Bauer constituted a serious expression of an intent to harm or assault,” Feess wrote. “Bauer was speaking out on matters [of] public interest, and his speech was a substantial (perhaps the only) motivating factor in the proposed discipline.”

Administrators for the South Orange County Community College District did not respond to a request for comment. Costa Mesa lawyer David Larsen, who represents the district in the case, was unavailable for comment.

In addition to the allegations that Bauer had made threats, Sampson also charged Bauer with violating the district’s antidiscrimination policies. Bauer said he believes the charge stems from his use of the phrase “Mr. Goo” to describe Irvine Valley College President Raghu P. Mathur. According to Bauer, Sampson said the phrase was an allusion to a racial epithet, a charge Bauer flatly denies.

“The judge recognized the obvious, that the chancellor stretched district policies in order to stifle dissent and criticism,” Bauer said.

This was Bauer’s third legal victory against the district. He prevailed in two previous lawsuits in which he accused the district of violating the Brown Act, which governs secret meetings by government bodies.

Feess’ summary judgment comes on the heels of another 1st Amendment-based legal defeat for the district.

Late last month, U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins issued an injunction that prevents the district from enforcing most of its policies regulating student speech and demonstrations on campus. Since the ruling, dissent at Irvine Valley College has reached new heights.

On Oct. 21, members of the school’s honors society displayed their disapproval of Mathur by taking a sledgehammer to a car that had been emblazoned with his name.