After a three-day trial, a Widener University committee today unanimously cleared Professor Larry Connell of charges of racial and sexual harassment and discrimination under the rules of the university. HERE is a statement on the exoneration, released by Professor Connell and his attorneys.
One of the missions of the NAS is to promote and preserve academic freedom in American higher education. Administrators at Widener University's School of Law threatened Lawrence Connell, a well-respected and long-time member of the faculty, with dismissal--largely on complaints about teaching methods that were well within the norms of common practice. These charges, brought by two disgruntled students and carried forward by deans at the university, were vague and ill-conceived. Professor Connell attributed the campaign to discharge him to the administrators' bias against his conservative views.
The university had clearly violated Professor Connell's academic freedom, and he fought back. NAS followed the dispute. Click HERE for a web page containing links that chart his defense and the university administrators' campaign against him.
