An Arkansas legislator says the revocation of a contract to an incoming dean of the University of Arkansas School of Law sends an unfortunate message.
Nicole Clowney, a Democrat in the Arkansas House, says the decision to rescind the contract offered earlier this month could create a chilling effect for educators.
“It sets a really dangerous precedent. I think it sends the message that the state government is going to be watching all state employees, that they will punish free expression that those state employees engage in if they don’t like it. And that should alarm every single Arkansan.”
The reversal came just a week after Emily Suski had been offered the job as dean.
A statement issued by the University of Arkansas indicates the decision followed conversations with key external stakeholders.
The Arkansas Advocate reports that Republican state Senate President Bart Hester and Attorney General Tim Griffin were among the officials opposed to Suski’s hiring.
Suski signed on as a “friend of the court” in a lawsuit challenging laws about transgender athletes in sports. She’s currently a professor and associate dean at the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
The revocation of the contract is receiving national attention from publications including The New York Times and Inside Higher Ed.
In a message, Senate President Bart Hester, a Republican from Cave Springs, says he contacted university officials to say Suski was unfit to lead the School of Law because of her stance on transgender athletes. But he says he did not threaten to withhold funding.
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