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Lawsuit centers around an email the professor sent to cancel class after Trump was elected
A former Millsaps College professor is suing the institution, alleging his termination for describing America as a “racist fascist country” in an email to students was censorship.
Professor James Bowley’s complaint, filed in September, alleges that the small Mississippi college breached his tenure and its founding tradition connecting faith to free speech. Bowley taught politics and religion at the college for more than 20 years.
“Millsaps fired a tenured professor because he expressed a political opinion in an email to three like-minded students in a political seminar,” the complaint claims.
However, college spokesperson Joey Lee told The College Fix that the institution is “confident” about defending its actions in the case.
“Millsaps College is dedicated to academic excellence and open inquiry. We are also committed to providing a safe and supportive campus for all,” Lee said in a recent email.
“Due to the pending litigation, we will not go into any further details at this time, but we look forward to the opportunity to tell the whole story,” Lee said. “We believe the facts will speak clearly, and we are confident in our position and in the legal process ahead.”
The college placed Bowley on administrative leave in November 2024. Almost a year later, in September, Bowley was terminated, according to the complaint. Initial reports said Bowley was fired in January, but Lee told The Fix that he was still on administrative leave at the time.
The controversy stems from an email Bowley sent to three students after the 2024 presidential election. Bowley wrote that he was canceling his “Abortion and Religion” class to “mourn and process this racist and fascist country.”
According to the complaint, Bowley’s decision was “rooted in compassion for the emotional distress that he knew his students were going through” due to the election of Donald Trump.
The lawsuit also argues that he was justified in sending the statement because the campus culture was tense after a Millsaps student threatened Kamala Harris voters in a YikYak post.
Bowley claims that the college violated his tenure when it fired him. “The faculty member’s expression of unpopular political views is not ‘cause for dismissal,’” the lawsuit states.
The complaint also highlights the Methodist background of the institution.
It quotes Methodist founder John Wesley: “The Methodists alone do not insist on your holding this or that opinion; but they think and let think . … Now, I do not know any other religious society, either ancient or modern, wherein such liberty of conscience is now allowed, or has been allowed, since the age of the apostles.”
The complaint argues that the college’s Methodist background is a foundation for academic freedom: “The requirement that all Methodist colleges respect academic freedom remains enshrined in policies set by the Church, stating that all ‘colleges and universities are to ensure that academic freedom is protected for all members of the academic community and a learning environment is fostered that allows for a free exchange of ideas.’”
It also connects open inquiry and freedom of speech and expression: “Challenge and discomfort are essential at Millsaps.”
“Millsaps has lately developed a pattern of violations of its free speech contract with the faculty and students, where it censors and disciplines speech that it disagrees with or feels may be embarrassing to it,” the complaint claims.
When contacted about the case, a lawyer with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Fix: “Millsaps commits to protecting student and faculty free speech, and when an institution makes such a commitment, it should stand by that commitment.”
Haley Gluhanich, senior program counsel, said Bowley was “well within his right” when he emailed his students and expressed his opinion on the outcome of the presidential election.
Elizabeth Land, an alumnae of Millsaps, has raised over $12,000 on GoFundMe for Bowley’s legal expenses.
On the fundraiser page, Land wrote that Bowley was “unjustly fired … despite widespread public outcry and a formal recommendation from the Faculty Grievance Committee urging Millsaps College to immediately reinstate Dr. Bowley and for the president of the college, Frank Neville, to issue a public apology.”
The Fix reached out to Bowley via LinkedIn and Land through the GoFundMe page, but neither responded.
MORE: Millsaps accused of censorship after putting professor on leave for ‘fascist’ Trump email
