University of North Texas Adjunct Fired For Criticizing Fliers in Faculty Lounge, Sues

UNT prof wrote microaggression fliers were ‘garbage’ and was not rehired. Now he’s suing.

by Emerson Claridge

After teaching his linear algebra class on an evening in late November, Nathaniel Hiers returned to a University of North Texas lounge.

As he washed his coffee mug, the adjunct faculty member in his first semester at the Denton university noticed that fliers that he saw earlier in the day were still there.

He picked one of them up.

Hiers looked at a chart that included “sexist/heterosexist” language. Being “forced to choose Male or Female when completing basic forms,” was among microaggression examples.

Hiers, who disagreed with many of the ideas in the flier, had read enough.

The adjunct wrote on a chalk board, “Don’t leave garbage lying around,” and drew an arrow pointing to the fliers. He went home.

The next day, Ralf Schmidt, the chair of the mathematics department, emailed his staff with a photo of the chalkboard message.

“Would the person who did this please stop being a coward and see me in the chair’s office immediately. Thank you.”

Hiers replied and wrote that he was responsible.

The next week, and after a meeting between Hiers and Schmidt, the chair reversed an offer the department’s associate chair had made to employ Hiers in the spring semester, according to a lawsuit Hiers filed April 16 in which the institution’s administrators are defendants. He alleges Schmidt and others mishandled the adjunct’s criticism of the flier.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Among other items of relief, Hiers seeks an order requiring the university acknowledge First and 14th Amendment Constitution violations in the case and Hiers’ return as a faculty member.

Asked by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to address the allegations in the lawsuit, including its assertion that university administrators did not apply its misconduct policy in the Hiers matter, a university spokeswoman said the institution was aware the lawsuit had been filed.

Someone anonymously left the stack of fliers discussing microaggressions in the mathematics department’s lounge, according to the suit.

The four-page University of New Hampshire document describes microaggressions as behaviors that “communicate negative, hostile, and derogatory messages to people rooted in their marginalized group membership (based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.).”

Hiers is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Scottsdale, Arizona-headquartered organization.

“The right to free speech is for everyone—not just those in power. Tolerance is a two-way street,” Michael Ross, the organization’s legal counsel, wrote in a statement. “Public universities can’t fire professors just because they don’t endorse every message someone communicates in the faculty lounge. By firing Dr. Hiers, the university sent an explicit message: ‘Agree with us or else.’”

When Hiers asked for a reason for Schmidt’s reversal, the chair offered several related to Hiers’ critique of microaggressions, the suit says.

“He said it was because Hiers refused to recant his beliefs, because he would not attend additional diversity training, and because ‘[his] actions and response are not compatible with the values of this department,’” according to the lawsuit.

“Hiers firmly rejects bias and prejudice against any person or group of people, including marginalized groups,” the adjunct’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. “He believes that the University should encourage all people, regardless of background, to learn how to communicate effectively with one another and to contribute to the vibrant array of ideas and expression on campus.

“Hiers believes that the concept of ‘microaggressions,’ while purporting to serve those ends, actually hurts diversity and tolerance. This mode of thinking teaches people to see the worst in other people, promotes a culture of victimhood, and suppresses alternative viewpoints instead of encouraging growth and dialogue,” the lawsuit states.

Hiers is looking for other teaching work. He is employed by the Denton Independent School District as a substitute teacher.

Microaggressions flier by Amy McDaniel on Scribd