A Trinity College professor who was placed on leave after his social media posts sparked threats against the school will resume teaching in January 2018 and the school determined that his commentary is protected by academic freedom.
On June 21, Professor Johnny Williams shared a June 16 controversial article from Medium.com on his Facebook and Twitter pages, according to President and Trinity College professor Joanne Berger-Sweeney on June 21. That article encouraged readers who see bigots in life-threatening situations to do nothing.
That prompted threats to the school.
Williams has apologized for threats made to the campus and said he wanted to bring awareness to white supremacy and “never intended to invite or incite violence.”
After the backlash and threats, Trinity College reviewed Williams’ actions and college policy and determined that the professor’s “actions and words were protected by academic freedom and did not violate Trinity College policies.”
A statement from Berger-Sweeney says Williams will be on leave throughout the fall semester, by mutual agreement, “to provide some time and distance from this recent controversy and to allow him to continue his scholarship on race, racism, and academic freedom.”
She went on to say threats of violence against Williams, his family and Trinity campus have shaken the college community.
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“Let me be clear: While I support Professor Williams’s right to express his opinions, as I have previously stated, I do not condone the hashtag he chose to use. This was interpreted by some to be a call to let people die, though Professor Williams stated publicly that was not his intent. Nevertheless, the words used in that hashtag not only offend me personally, they also contradict our fundamental institutional values and run counter to our efforts to bridge divides and to promote understanding, both among members of our College community and between us and members of communities beyond our own,” Berger-Sweeney said in a statement.
Later this summer, Trinity will launch a program, on and off campus, that “fosters civil discourse and cements Trinity as a community of learning that values differences and promotes understanding.”
The board of trustees also released a statement, commending the college leadership for “quickly undertaking a thoughtful, thorough, and balanced review.”
“While not all of our community members will agree with the outcome of the review, we do support the tenets of academic freedom that are critical to an institution of learning. The strength of Trinity College is evidenced in the passion and depth of feeling we all have for this great institution,” Cornelia Parsons Thornburgh, chair of the board of trustees for Trinity College, said in a statement.
Williams' attorney, Todd Steigman said Friday that Trinity came to a proper decision, but that the school didn't go far enough.
"Although the Dean’s Review concluded that there are no grounds to institute disciplinary action against Professor Williams, Trinity College has still not sufficiently acknowledged that it improperly disciplined Professor Williams by placing him on an involuntary leave of absence and publicly reprimanding him," Steigman said in a statement. "It is also disappointing that the statements issued today by the College not only fail to apologize for the actions taken against Professor Williams, but that the President continues to publicly castigate Professor Williams for statements that she and the College recognize are protected by the First Amendment and principles of academic freedom and are not a proper basis for disciplinary action."
The ACLU also released a statement about the college's decision:
“We commend Trinity College’s decision to uphold free speech in the face of controversy. We understand the deep concerns expressed over Professor Williams’s Facebook posts. In the face of today’s polarized climate, it is vital for universities to maintain equitable learning environments for all students, while upholding the free expression of students and faculty alike," David McGuire, executive director of the ACLU of Connecticut, said in a statement.
"This incident was fundamentally about a professor’s ability to freely express his political views on his personal social media page. It is clear that Professor Williams was not attempting to incite violence or making individualized threats, and it does not appear that he was discriminating against students in the classroom. The response to his posts has also shown that many people have conflated Professor Williams’s own words with those included in a blog post to which he linked.
"While there may be better ways to draw attention to the very real problem of white supremacy, Professor Williams’s choices to use an offensive hashtag, link to a controversial article, and express his political views on his personal Facebook page were protected free speech.
"Colleges and universities do not have to be passive in the face of controversial speech. We are heartened that Trinity College has noted its intent to continue broader campus conversations about free speech and the racial and political divides that split our nation.”
