“Saint Joseph’s University has ended up firing Professor Greg Manco, who over a year ago was suspended by the school for allegedly ‘biased or discriminatory’ tweets regarding slavery reparations and racial bias training,” reports The College Fix:
The university’s action came earlier this month despite Manco having been cleared in an investigation into the matter…Manco claims St. Joe’s fired him for alleged violation of federal privacy laws; his suit against the university shows that “one of the students who complained about his tweets received an ‘F’ in his class years before,” and there also were “published email chains between him and students.”
Manco and his lawyer believe “the ability to detail allegations in lawsuits must supersede” privacy considerations such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. They also claim St. Joe’s is aware of this, but nevertheless is using the privacy claim as a “pretextual” reason for the termination.
In dismissing Manco from his adjunct position, the university said Manco violated the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA. Much in the same way the federal law known as HIPAA prevents doctors from divulging private medical information about their patients, FERPA prevents educators from divulging certain aspects of a student’s learning career.
According to a federal Department of Education website, one provision of FERPA allows that “If an educational agency or institution initiates legal action against a parent or student, the educational agency or institution may disclose to the court, without a court order or subpoena, the education records of the student that are relevant for the educational agency or institution to proceed with the legal action as plaintiff.”
Even though the FERPA language does not directly contemplate instances in which a professor might sue the university, Manco and his legal team believe that he is covered by the clause, or by the broader spirit of the law.
Manco told The College Fix that the university is paying the lawyers’ bills for four of the defendants, including those who “maligned the University itself on social media.” One of the defendants “not only celebrated his unemployment on Instagram and referred to” Manco “as a ‘white MFer,’ but also called the distinguished alums who supported” him “‘white supremacists.’”
Manco stated:
This latest shameful action by the University administration is devastating, not just professionally but emotionally as well. It is obvious retaliation for the lawsuit I filed against the school in January. In fact, they specifically cited the lawsuit and [its] contents as the reason for revoking my future scheduled classes. I have spent my life in both academia and collegiate athletics and this has now grinded all of it to a complete – and likely permanent – halt.
It’s clear that I am the administration’s sacrificial offering to their woke constituency.
