Student sues Albany Law over professor’s alleged ‘hostile’ comments toward conservatives

A conservative student at Albany Law School of Union University recently filed a lawsuit against the private school in New York, alleging racial and viewpoint discrimination by a black faculty member for, among other things, telling students that the Founding Fathers were “worse than Hitler.”

The federal lawsuit, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, alleges the professor and the student both accused each other of using racist remarks or engaging in racist behavior. The student is accusing the New York law school of failing to address his concerns and unfairly siding with the professor.

Commenting on the case, an outside attorney who specializes in campus free speech told The College Fix the law school is a private institution and faculty have the freedom to express their own viewpoints, but students also shouldn’t be coerced into adopting a particular view.

The lawsuit stems from a series of allegations that began with the first session of Professor Anthony Farley’s January 2025 class “International Children’s Rights.”

The student, Rowland Rupp, alleges that Farley started the class with “a hostile political and racial monologue directed at white conservative students,” going so far as to switch off the classroom’s audio recording to deliver his diatribe, according to his lawsuit.

In the lawsuit, Rupp claims Farley said the Founding Fathers were “worse than Hitler,” that conservatives seek “to conserve slavery,” and that the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center were “unworthy of attention,” among other politically and racially charged statements.

“After asking whether anyone in the class hunted and (Rupp) raised his hand, Professor Farley singled him out, remarking in front of the class, ‘Of course the guy with the hat hunts,’ and using plaintiff’s attire and lawful personal interests as markers of the racialized identity he had just condemned,” the complaint states.

The student claims he felt “uncomfortable and humiliated” in front of the class and decided to leave and file a complaint about Farley’s behavior.

As he left, the student briefly touched Farley’s shoulder and informed the professor that he was leaving the class and would not be coming back, according to the complaint.

In response, Professor Farley also filed a complaint, claiming he was assaulted by the plaintiff in a “racist scene,” according to the Times Union.

The student’s lawsuit notes Farley’s initial description of “Mr. Rupp’s departure from his classroom in non-violent terms,” only stating that he had been “disruptive” and that he be “removed from the class roster, but made no mention of having been assaulted.” 

It wasn’t until “more than 24 hours” later that Farley claimed to have been assaulted by Rupp. 

Upon learning of his complaint the following morning, Professor Farley filed his own “retaliatory disciplinary complaint against Mr. Rupp, abandoning his initial benign account…”

According to Rupp’s lawsuit, Albany Law School officials had “quietly warned some white conservative students not to enroll in [Farley]’s courses, effectively conceding the hostile environment while allowing it to continue.”

The lawsuit also alleges Farley harassed the student on Facebook, saying Rupp has a “conservative” and “incel/MAGA look” and suffers from “unspecified mental ‘illnesses.’” 

Rupp’s attorney Marco Cercone told the Times Union the case is “about a (private) law school that failed to follow its own rules.”

“So, the incident that is articulated in our complaint occurred, and my client immediately went to report the professor, and instead of following through on my client’s reporting of the professor … what Albany Law did was they commenced disciplinary proceedings against my client based on the professor’s retaliatory complaint,” he said.

However, Farley’s attorney J. Remy Green disagreed, saying Rupp’s lawsuit is “frivolous” and “based on protected speech, and (is) seemingly now denying facts he previously admitted in an apology letter.” 

Neither attorney nor the law school responded to requests for comment from The Fix about the lawsuit.

Garrett Gravely, the program counsel at Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told The College Fix that “faculty have the academic freedom to design courses and express their own viewpoints as they see fit, as long as it is pedagogically relevant.” 

When asked about viewpoint discrimination in colleges, Gravely answered that “… from a constitutional perspective, public universities cannot legally engage in viewpoint discrimination, and private universities that promise free speech should not.” 

Gravely defined viewpoint discrimination as “differential treatment because of the speaker’s opinions, thoughts, or ideological perspective.”

While universities are free to set their “academic standards,” they cannot “coerce students to personally adopt particular viewpoints or punish a student for their individual viewpoints. That, in its own right, is viewpoint discrimination,” he said.

Gravely was also asked about the line between protected academic freedom and unconstitutional retaliation. In answering, he highlighted the fact that Albany Law School is a private university, meaning the Constitution “does not directly apply.” 

However, the First Amendment still offers “guidance for private universities that promise free speech, like Albany Law,” he said. 

Gravely further stated that “[r]etaliation is not protected by academic freedom.” Professors cannot punish students for their views, nor are they permitted to violate a student’s rights.

When asked whether the case of Rupp and Professor Farley reflects broader trends in campus speech disputes, Gravely answered that while colleges “are supposed to be arenas of unrestrained inquiry and expression,” even over controversial issues, “disagreement in the campus” has always been a feature of higher education. 

“Here, at FIRE, we see cases every day of faculty losing their academic freedom rights, students facing viewpoint discrimination, and every free speech controversy in between,” he said.

Constitutional scholar Jonathan Turley wrote in a blog post that both sides of the story “are starkly different accounts, and we will have to wait for a response from Professor Farley.”

But if Rupp’s account is accurate, Turley wrote, it is another example of something far too common on college campuses. 

“I routinely hear from law students about professors delivering anti-Republican or anti-conservative diatribes in classes,” he wrote.

The College Fix contacted Turley and several legal advocacy organizations for comment, but none responded.