Student ‘Nazi’ Review of Professor No Basis for Retaliation Suit

Four University of Kansas administrators won’t face a former animation professor’s claims she was denied tenure and fired for complaining that students described her as a “Nazi sympathizer” and German feminist in performance evaluations, the Tenth Circuit ruled Monday.

Catherine Joritz failed to show she was speaking on a matter of public concern when she asked the university to remove the student evaluations from her personnel file, the court said. Because public workers’ free speech protections don’t extend to private matters, Joritz’s request wasn’t covered by the First Amendment, and a lower court wrongly denied the administrators immunity from her ...