There’s a decades-long tradition of co-mingling between LSU football and Louisiana politics going back to famous Governor Huey Long in the 1930s. Long was known for using his influence to hire coaches, recruit players, expel student editors who condemned his actions, give locker room pep talks, and march with the band in parades.
Political support isn’t so brazen in the modern day. Lawmakers are entertained at football games in more subtle ways, and love for LSU runs deep in the state capitol building.
The case of law professor Ken Levy, however, could challenge that affection, Governor Jeff Landry said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
An appeals court judge has ordered the school to fully reinstate Levy, a Democrat, who was suspended from his teaching duties in January after using the “f-word” in angry verbal attacks during a lecture against President Donald Trump and Landry, also a Republican.
Levy was expected to be back in the classroom Thursday, Landry told show host Tony Perkins.
“Everyone was vulnerable if I lost this,” Levy said outside a courtroom earlier this week, a reference to faculty and students at LSU. “My win is their win,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
Guv: Critical that LSU appeal
But the game isn’t over, says the governor who assumed office just over a month ago. LSU has appealed and has asked Louisiana's First Circuit Court of Appeal to take up the case immediately.
“I think that the First Circuit is going to reverse this. They’ve already reversed it once in a preliminary injunction,” Landry said.
LSU appears to be aggressively pursuing the case against Levy. If it doesn’t that could affect its standing with a conservative legislature, according to Landry.
“I spoke to a couple of different legislators who had an education committee hearing [Wednesday]. I spoke to Chairman [Laurie] Schlegel, who’s on the House education side. They were aghast when I sent them this hypothetical. It’s shocking. I do believe that if the school does not take action, there will be repercussions for allowing professors to act like this in their classrooms,” he said.
An attorney representing LSU said the court’s response this week only served to tell the school “You can’t break the law, which we know, and we’re not doing.”
While Levy claims a free-speech victory, some contend he’s missing the point of the case.
His suspension is “not a question of academic freedom” but rather about “inappropriate conduct in the classroom,” LSU’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications Todd Woodward said in a statement provided to The Associated Press.
Conservative students feared for their grades in his class, Woodward added.
“Our investigation found that Professor Levy created a classroom environment that was demeaning to students who do not hold his political view, threatening in terms of their grades, and profane.”
Not the first speech rodeo
The Levy case is not Landry’s first go-ground with LSU over the issue of speech within its law school. Anticipating issues before the November election, Landry last fall issued an executive order ensuring free speech for all at every state institution of higher learning.
In late November, Landry explained the reason for his order in a letter to LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Jimmie M. Woods. In that same letter he asked the board to remind instructors that the order prohibits expression that would intimidate students with opposing viewpoints.
The letter called for the school or board to discipline law professor Nicholas Bryner, who, after the election, criticized Trump and told students who voted for him they needed to do some soul-searching over how they treat other law school students:
“If you voted for Trump, and your rationale for voting for Trump is that you don’t like him personally, but you like his policies … I’ll just say that it is on you to prove that by the way you conduct yourself, by the way you treat other people around you.”
Bryner went on to say that he knew of black students who did not feel “comfortable” or “welcome” at the law school; then addressed students again:
“If you voted for Trump on the idea that you don’t like him personally, but you like his policies … think about how you can prove that by treating other people in a way that matches that sentiment.”
Landry has a different sentiment. “It’s time to quit indoctrinating and start educating,” he said.
Bryner remains employed at LSU, according to The Associated Press. But the case of Levy, a tenured professor, continues to unfold.
“It’s important to recognize that tenure does not protect him from this type of conduct,” Landry argued. “If tenure protects a professor from this type of conduct, maybe it’s time to abolish tenure.”
