Matthew Finkin, University of Illinois College of Law, has published Non-Disciplinary Professorial Speech: The First Amendment and the Decay of Professorial Norms at 50 Journal of College and University Law 219 (2025). Here is the abstract.
A spate of recent postings on social media have gotten the posting professors into hot water. These expressions are not rooted in their academic disciplines, but address public and institutional controversies: condemning Israel as a “social cancer”; condemning a faculty advisor as “racist” for the campus organization he advised. May they be sanctioned? In public institutions shelter might be sought in the first amendment. In all institutions shelter might be sought in institutional academic freedom policies rooted in national professional norms. On closer examination, however, the first amendment appears a rather weak reed to lean on; and protective policy appears enervated, the national norms in decay. This article explains how the robust, uninhibited, unfettered campus debate on public and institutional issues is now beclouded, and explores what this trend portends.
Download the article from SSRN at the link.