Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 1 P7 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | 48 ACADEMIC FREEDOM S. Ct. 568 50 L. Ed. 2d 471 1977 . This precedent seemed to give school authorities ample means to elude liability for unconstitutional terminations. However neither of the principles helped City University of New York CUNY when it was sued by the chair of its black studies department. Professor Leonard Jeffries specialized in black studies and the history of Africa and his teaching style at CUNY was controversial. Some students felt that Jeffries discouraged classroom debate whereas others applauded him for verbalizing the frustrations of many African Americans. Jeffries referred to Europeans as ice people and as egotistic individualistic and exploitative. Africans by contrast were sun people who had humanistic spiritualistic value system s . On July 20 1991 Jeffries spoke at the Empire State Black Arts and Cultural Festival in Albany New York. in his speech he assailed perceived Jewish power asserting that Jews controlled CUNY and Hollywood and had financed the American slave trade. The speech attracted national attention and placed CUNY on the horns of a dilemma Either it could punish Jeffries and risk running afoul of the First Amendment and academic freedom principles or it could do nothing and risk losing expected income from offended school benefactors. For several months the university wrestled with the problem. Then in October the board of trustees voted without explanation to limit Jeffries s current appointment as chair to one year instead of the customary three. On March 23 1992 the CUNY Board of Trustees appointed Professor Edmund Gordon to the position of black studies chair. Jeffries filed suit in federal court on June 5 1992. Jeffries argued that the defendants violated his First Amendment free speech rights and his fourteenth amendment due process rights when they denied him a full three-year term as chair of black studies. The jury agreed with Jeffries that a substantial motivating factor in his dismissal was his speech in .
