UT-Austin Professor’s First Amendment Suit Rejected by Court

University of Texas-Austin officials defeated a professor’s allegations that they chilled his constitutionally protected right to express views that contrasted with “critical race theory and DEI-based ideology.”

Assistant professor of finance Richard Lowery failed to allege he was subject to an adverse employment action that would support his chilled speech claim under Fifth Circuit precedent, Judge David A. Ezra for the US District Court for the Western District of Texas said.

Lowery alleged that university officials hijacked an academic initiative meant to study “classical-liberal, pro-free market” perspectives, and that he made his displeasure known publicly. University officials allegedly pressured Carlos ...