FIX EXCLUSIVES
Key Takeaways
- Daniel Grossenbach, an adjunct professor at the University of Arizona, alleges he was fired for advocating parental rights, particularly through his work with a group he founded called SaveCFSD.
- The university claims his termination was unrelated to his advocacy and was due to budget cuts, but Grossenbach found evidence suggesting anonymous complaints about his activities were discussed prior to his firing.
- Grossenbach is suing the university for alleged violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, seeking reinstatement, damages, and an injunction against restrictive speech policies.
- His advocacy, which included raising concerns about school district practices regarding gender identity and mental health information, led to harassment and personal attacks on him and his family.
A former University of Arizona ethics adjunct professor of three years claims the school fired him for criticizing gender policies and defending parental rights in a recent lawsuit.
The university told Daniel Grossenbach his termination was unrelated to his public comments and parental rights group called Save Catalina Foothills School District. However, Grossenbach and his representation, Christian legal group Liberty Counsel, told The College Fix otherwise.
Shortly before he lost his job, U of A allegedly received anonymous complaints about Daniel Grossenbach’s advocacy work in his children’s school district, according to Fox News.
The professor founded SaveCFSD to petition the district over “policies and practices of hiding minors’ mental health information as a violation of fundamental parental rights.”
SaveCFSD claims the district has hidden minors’ mental health information, distributed gender identity surveys, and maintained secret lists of students requesting alternative names and pronouns, all without notifying parents. Grossenbach raised these issues in remarks before the school board.
Anonymous complaints stated that the professor ran an “anti-gay hate group,” and spread “misinformation.”
Grossenbach told The College Fix the university informed him his adjunct role was cut to make room for new full-time professors with doctorates. “If you have an expert, that’s even better for the students. That sounds understandable,” Grossenbach said.
However, he later discovered the university had posted job openings for an adjunct professor in his same department. Heavily redacted public records Grossenbach obtained suggested the administration discussed the anonymous complaints prior to halting his courses.
This discrepancy fueled his legal action, as Grossenbach is now suing the University of Arizona, seeking reinstatement, back pay, damages for reputational harm, and an injunction against speech-restricting policies. He alleges violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
He is further alleging that the school violated Arizona’s public records law by initially rejecting his request for documents and delaying for 239 days before supplying Grossenbach with emails pertaining to his termination.
The university told The Fix, “We will not comment on this pending legal matter,” when asked about the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, the university’s actions “have inflicted irreparable damage to Professor Grossenbach’s professional career and reputation, ended his academic pursuit of a doctorate degree, decreased his earning potential, and reduced his income.”
Further, Liberty Counsel stated in a news release that “the university discriminated and retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment rights to speak out according to his religious beliefs and to protect his children.”
Grossenbach told The Fix that, beyond losing his position, he and his family have faced harassment and stalking. He said strangers showed up at his home and his wife’s workplace, and he noted that someone had posted a photo of his house on social media.
As a Christian, Grossenbach said he felt compelled to form SaveCFSD because of his belief that “departing from God’s natural male and female design of human sexuality is a sin.”
At school board meetings, he frequently added disclaimers making clear he spoke only for himself, not his employer. He insisted his remarks were expressed without “hate, slander, or violence.”
“Protecting freedom of speech is in some capacity exactly what I was trying to teach my students in the undergraduate setting. It’s an irony that the very thing that I was teaching was something lost on the administration,” Grossenbach told The College Fix.
Grossenbach also said he believes momentum may be shifting, as more partnerships between grassroots activists and legal defense groups are working to “defend people who have been unjustly punished” for their free speech.
Liberty Counsel Associate Vice President of Legal Affairs Daniel Schmid also weighed in to condemn the professor’s “silencing.”
When asked how he differentiates Grossenbach’s off-campus advocacy from conduct that could reasonably be seen as representing the university, Schmid told The Fix, “I think it’s quite clear. The First Amendment makes it clear.”
“This type of silencing is harmful,” Schmid said. “It is time to knock it off.”
If Grossenbach prevails, the case could lead to the reversal of U of A’s Nondiscriminatory and Anti-Harassment Policy and its Statement of Professional Conduct, according to AZ Central.
