Early Thursday morning, eight former University of Michigan employees filed a federal lawsuit against the University for wrongful termination for participation in pro-Palestinian protests. The plaintiffs, one full-time employee and seven student workers, argued the University violated First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of free speech and the right to due process. The lawsuit states that termination of employee contracts and bans from future employment did not occur until the Ruthven sit-in protest on Nov. 17, 2023. The Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice and American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee will represent the plaintiffs in the 36th District Court in Detroit.
In a press release by the ADC, John Philo, executive and legal director of the Sugar Law Center, wrote that the terminations were carried out due to pro-Palestinian speech, not because of misbehavior as employees.
“Sadly, the University of Michigan is trying to resurrect an old but previously discarded tactic of firing and blacklisting workers whose viewpoints they don’t agree with,” Philo wrote. “By all accounts, each of our clients was a dedicated employee performing necessary work for the University. University officials and Michigan’s Attorney General have taken many seemingly coordinated actions to undermine the free speech of pro-Palestine protesters on campus.”
Chris Godshall-Bennett, legal director of the ADC, wrote in the press release that the terminations are representative of a nationwide repression of pro-Palestinian speech.
“There is a nationwide assault on freedom of expression if you support the rights of the Palestinian people,” Godshall-Bennett wrote. “The contempt for the constitutional rights of pro-Palestine advocates should be offensive to anyone who values their right to speak. The government, whether federal, state, or a public university, cannot punish you because they don’t agree with you, even if you work for them. We will not cede these rights and those who violate them will be held to account.”
University spokesperson Kay Jarvis wrote in an email to The Michigan Daily that the University does not comment on ongoing litigation.
Summer News Editor Claudia Minetti can be reached at cminetti@umich.edu.
