A short excerpt from today’s long Ninth Circuit decision in Reges v. Cauce, written by Judge Daniel Bress and joined by Judge Milan Smith (note that the university apparently didn’t argue that the speech was unprotected because it was off-topic for a computer science class, presumably because the university itself had encouraged non-parody land acknowledgments in such syllabuses):
A public university investigated, reprimanded, and threatened to discipline a professor for contentious statements he made in a class syllabus. The statements, which mocked the university’s model syllabus statement on an issue of public concern, caused offense in the university community. Yet debate and disagreement are hallmarks of higher education. Student discomfort with a professor’s views can prompt discussion and disapproval. But this discomfort is not grounds for the university retaliating against the professor….
In 2019, the Allen School [of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington] revised its “Best Practices for Inclusive Teaching” to recommend that instructors include an “Indigenous Land Acknowledgement” in their course syllabi. This document offered UW’s official land acknowledgment as an example, while making clear that its suggestions were “not prescriptions,” but only “ideas” intended to help faculty be “more effective teacher[s] and better role model[s] for more of your students.”