Shawnee State University trustees and officials shouldn’t have to face free speech and related claims by an evangelical Christian professor who was disciplined for refusing to address a student by her self-asserted gender identity, a Southern District of Ohio magistrate judge recommended.
How Nicholas Meriwether addressed Jane Doe during class at the Ohio public university involved speech relating to his official job duties, not as a private citizen, Magistrate Judge Karen L. Litkovitz said. He therefore can’t show the warning letter he received for repeatedly refusing to comply with university policies was retaliation under the First Amendment, she said.
The ...