Court upholds suspension of LSU professor who vulgarly criticized Trump and Louisiana Governor

NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana appeals court on Tuesday upheld the suspension of an LSU law professor who criticized Gov. Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump using vulgar language.

While teaching a constitutional law class last month, tenured Prof. Ken Levy stated ''f(asterisk)(asterisk)(asterisk) the Governor'' and employed the expletive to talk about Trump and students who supported him.

Within a few days, LSU's administration informed Levy he had been suspended from his teaching responsibilities ''pending an investigation into student complaints of inappropriate statements made in your class,'' according to a lawsuit Levy filed last week.

The three-member First Circuit Court of Appeal's ruling overturned East Baton Rouge district judge Donald Johnson's order last week that LSU immediately reinstate Levy to his teaching role. This would require a ''full evidentiary hearing,'' the appeals court ruled.

A hearing is scheduled for Monday, lawyers for both parties say.

The appeals court ruling upheld the rest of the district judge's temporary restraining order barring LSU from retaliating against Levy ''on account of his protected academic freedom and free speech.''

Levy's attorney Jill Craft said she is pleased with the appeals court's decision to uphold ''the bulk'' of the restraining order on behalf of her client.

''What it means is his rights are protected and LSU can't take any action against him and so that's a good thing,'' Craft told The Associated Press.

Jimmy Faircloth, Jr., an attorney representing LSU, said that the elements of the restraining order upheld by the appeals court are ''superfluous'' and ''doesn't do anything other than tell LSU 'you can't break the law' which we know and we're not doing."

Levy's suspension is ''not a question of academic freedom" but rather about ''inappropriate conduct in the classroom,'' LSU's Vice President of Marketing and Communications Todd Woodward said in an emailed statement.

''Our investigation found that Professor Levy created a classroom environment that was demeaning to students who do not hold his political view, threatening in terms of their grades, and profane,'' Woodward added.

Levy said in a sworn affidavit that he had made his comments ''in a joking manner'' in order to highlight his support for the First Amendment and to emphasize the no recording policy in his class.

Levy had issued a no recording rule ''because he did not want to be Governor Landry's next target — although that is ironically what happened,'' Levy's lawsuit said.

Last November, Gov. Landry had publicly called for LSU to discipline another law professor, Nicholas Bryner, who during a lecture criticized Trump and students who voted for him. Bryner remains employed by LSU.

In a Tuesday post on X, Landry stated that Levy's conduct ''should not be tolerated at our taxpayer funded universities."

Levy's lawsuit said that LSU's actions violated his due process and ''chill and restrict...free speech rights.''

___

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96.