A former adjunct professor at Kean University can pursue federal constitutional and state law claims over the New Jersey school’s finding that she violated state policy by making insensitive classroom statements about gender, ethnicity, religion, and immigration, the Third Circuit ruled Thursday.
According to Cheryl Borowski, the students in her undergraduate business law class simply misconstrued her teaching methods. At issue in the case was whether Borowski’s right to sue in federal court was barred because she’d already challenged Kean’s finding before the New Jersey Civil Service Commission, which dismissed her appeal on jurisdictional grounds.
A lower court misapplied the ...