Cases & Developments

Memorandum Opinion and Order granting Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment. Plaintiff, a tenured Associate Professor of composition and literature at San Antonio College, brought First Amendment claims against the College and individual officials after she was twice disciplined for unprofessional communications related to emails she sent demanding that students be permitted to use scholarship funds to take her class even though it was outside of their degree plans and criticizing officials who had requested volunteers to cover classes for an instructor who was ill. In granting the College’s motion for summary judgment, the court found that the speech in plaintiff’s emails was not protected by the First Amendment because it occurred when she was performing duties within the scope of her job responsibilities, noting that she sent the messages to College administrators in her capacity as an Associate Professor addressing College procedures.