On January 17, 2026, the University of Arkansas (UA) announced that it had rescinded its offer to Emily Suski, a law professor and associate dean at the University of South Carolina’s Joseph F. Rice School of Law, to serve as the dean of its law school. The announcement noted that the reversal came after the university received feedback from elected officials.
On January 9, 2026, UA’s Office of University Relations announced that Provost Indrajeet Chaubey had named Suski the next dean of UA’s School of Law. The announcement praised Suski’s leadership experience in legal education and her work establishing medical-legal partnerships. After the announcement was made, several state lawmakers, including Arkansas State Senator and State Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester and Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin, expressed objections to Suski’s appointment. The lawmakers pointed to Suski’s signing of an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, which supported transgender students’ right to play on sports teams aligned with their gender identity. Suski had signed the brief in November 2025, along with 17 other law professors. On January 17, UA’s Office of the Provost reversed Suski’s appointment, publishing an online statement which said, “After receiving feedback from key external stakeholders including elected officials and others about the fit between Professor Suski and the university’s vacancy, the university has decided to go a different direction.”
Scholars at Risk is concerned about the withdrawal of an academic appointment to a scholar in retaliation for her speaking publicly on a matter within her area of professional expertise. Scholars at Risk is equally concerned that the withdrawal was apparently made by university officials to satisfy outside pressure from elected officials. University authorities have an obligation to refrain from retaliatory actions intended to punish, restrict, or chill the exercise of academic freedom, and to ensure that hiring decisions are driven solely by academic considerations and remain free from outside pressure. Failure to meet these obligations undermines academic freedom, university autonomy, and democratic society generally.
Sources:
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/2026/01/15/amid-criticism-lawmakers-arkansas-rescinds-dean-offer
https://arkansasadvocate.com/2026/01/15/university-of-arkansas-withdraws-incoming-law-deans-offer-in-wake-of-republican-complaints/
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/politics/university-of-arkansas-dean-emily-suski-transgender.html
https://arkansasadvocate.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/20260115_UA-Emily-Suski-Hire.png
https://provost.uark.edu/academic-leadership-searches/law/
