Free speech group asks UNL to reinstate fired lecturer

An organization identified by three state senators as a resource to review free speech policies and practices at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln asked university leaders to reinstate a graduate student fired from her teaching duties last month.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, wrote to UNL Chancellor Ronnie Green on Friday requesting the university “immediately reverse its unwise error” when it ended the employment of Courtney Lawton on Nov. 17.

Lawton, a lecturer in the English Department, was told her contract would be ending three months after she was filmed protesting a recruiting event held by undergraduate student Kaitlyn Mullen for Turning Point USA, a conservative student group.

Although UNL initially said it removed Lawton from her teaching duties as a safety precaution, Green and Donde Plowman, UNL’s executive vice chancellor, later informed Lawton she would no longer teach at the university.

Read more: http://journalstar.com/news/local/free-speech-group-asks-unl-to-reinstate-fired-lecturer/article_49c3d7a2-5b42-59fc-8cdc-77ca60beb9c4.html