Michigan State trustees settle First Amendment lawsuit with professor, who says they called him ‘racist’
A Michigan State professor settled a First Amendment lawsuit accusing two trustees of retaliating against him after a contentious 2023 meeting.
The details of the settlement have not become public, and the plaintiff, Professor Jack Lipton, and his attorney told Campus Reform they cannot comment on it at this time.
Two Michigan State University (MSU) trustees have settled a First Amendment lawsuit with a professor, who said they called him “racist” and pushed students to file complaints against him.
The details of the settlement have not become public, and the plaintiff, Professor Jack Lipton, and his attorney told Campus Reform they cannot comment on it at this time.
Lipton, a professor of translational neuroscience and the former chair of the faculty senate, sued the MSU Board of Trustees in October 2024. This past June, a Michigan judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed against two board members, board chair Rema Vassar and Dennis Denno.
[RELATED: University of Oregon ordered to cover legal fees after settling First Amendment lawsuit]
In the lawsuit, Lipton alleges that Vassar and Denno labeled him a “racist” for criticizing Vassar’s failure to restrain disruptive behavior during a 2023 meeting, which involved a resolution calling for Vassar’s resignation as chair.
“The chaos brought and disrespect shown by her supporters could have been stopped by a single statement from Chair Vassar, yet she elected to let the mob rule the room,” Lipton told a news site after the meeting.
An independent investigation later found that Vassar and Denno pushed students to file complaints against Lipton and tell the media that “Lipton=racist,” following the professor’s statement.
“The other thing you can do to help us, at least for me, is attack Jack Lipton, the Chair of the Faculty Senate,” Denno said in recorded comments to students that appeared in the investigation. “I mean this guy called you a mob … call him out, call him a racist.”
Lipton’s lawsuit says that Vassar and Denno’s actions constitute character assassination and effectively silenced him from using First Amendment rights in the future.
“Vassar and Denno’s campaign of retaliation against Dr. Lipton for his truthful speech has caused irreparable damage to his reputation and career and has deterred him from engaging in subsequent protected speech in violation of his rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit says.
Campus Reform previously covered how MSU’s continued Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts, including instructing future teachers to adopt a racial perspective and treat students in the classroom differently based on their race.
[RELATED: Court halts effort to force UCLA DEI revisions through research-grant conditions]
MSU education students must take a course titled “Social Foundations of Justice and Equity in Education.”
The primary textbook for the class advocates for discovering “new ways to discuss inequality and distribute wealth and resources, new ways to resist, new ways to agitate, new ways to maintain order and safety that abolishes prisons, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
“It’s time to root this nonsense out of our education system and get back to educating instead of indoctrinating,” Michigan State Sen. Aric Nesbitt told Campus Reform at the time.
MSU declined to comment for this article.
