On January 14, 2025, Millsaps College fired James Bowley, a tenured religious studies professor who had worked at the college for over 20 years, in retaliation for an email that he sent to his class following President Donald Trump’s election.
On November 6, 2024, the day after the presidential election, Bowley emailed the three students in his Abortion and Religions course to cancel that day’s class in order to take “time to mourn and process this racist fascist country.” A student in the class shared the email on Instagram, along with a message of approval. A second student saw the Instagram post and reported it to Millsaps administrators.
On November 7, Millsaps interim provost Stephanie Rolph called Bowley to say that he was being placed on leave for using his “Millsaps email account to share personal opinions with [his] students.” Bowley was locked out of his university-issued electronic devices and barred from campus.
On December 27, a three-faculty member grievance panel determined that Bowley had not violated any official university policy in sending the email to his class and that Millsaps had not afforded Bowley due process when it summarily placed him on leave.
On January 14, 2025, Millsaps president Frank Neville rejected the conclusions of the grievance panel and fired Bowley.
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the arbitrary dismissal of a professor for nonviolently exercising his right to freedom of expression – conduct that is expressly protected by international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the United States is a party. Higher education authorities have an obligation to ensure due process, transparency, and fairness when engaging in disciplinary action. In addition to the harm to the immediate victims, such incidents have a chilling effect on academic freedom and undermine democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/01/17/prof-says-he-was-fired-email-calling-us-racist
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/college-professor-fired-us-election-mississippi-b2681039.html
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2025/01/16/professor-fired-over-trump-email-jackson-mississippi/77728227007/
https://www.thefire.org/research-learn/fire-letter-millsaps-college-december-18-2024
https://www.thefire.org/news/no-speech-you-college-fires-professor-calling-america-racist-fascist-country-email-students