A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower-court ruling favoring N.C. State in a dispute with former faculty member Terri Ginsburg. Ginsburg had sued the university on free-speech grounds.
She argued that she had been denied a shot at a tenure-track job because of pro-Palestinian comments she made while introducing a film to an audience during the university’s October 2007 Middle Eastern Film series.
Appellate Judge Rick Elmore writes:
[P]laintiff argues that following her remarks, she had several negative interactions with other members of the faculty. Based on these interactions, plaintiff believes that she was not considered for the tenure-track position as a result of her remarks. However, plaintiff fails to establish any causal connection beyond mere speculation between these interactions and the decision of the university to not hire her for the tenure-track position. In fact, the record does not show that plaintiff’s remarks were a decisive factor in the committee’s decision. The committee articulated several specific reasons why plaintiff was not hired for the position, none of which concerned plaintiff’s remarks.
