Phillips v. Collin Community College District: History Professor Fired for Talking About History, Criticizing the College’s COVID-19 Response

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Phillips v. Collin College Complaint

Michael Phillips was an award-winning history professor at Collin College in McKinney, Texas. As an expert on the history of race relations, Phillips spoke out in the media, advocating for removing Confederate monuments in Dallas. Two years later, he granted a media interview about a racially motivated shooting in El Paso by a former Collin College student. Collin College administrators disciplined Phillips because his comments to the press made the College “look bad” and violated a directive by the president forbidding faculty from speaking about the shooting.

Collin College continued its campaign against Phillips during the COVID-19 pandemic after Phillips spoke out about the College’s response to the pandemic on his social media. In reference to the College’s decision to open for in-person learning in the fall of 2020, Phillips posted, “[T]hat feeling when your employer doesn’t value your health and safety.” Phillips also publicly shared a slide in which College faculty were told they could not request, require, or recommend wearing masks at the beginning of the fall 2021 term. Phillips later recommended masking in a history course covering the history of pandemics and preventative measures. Ultimately, Collin College President Neil Matkin terminated Phillips.

On March 8, 2022, Phillips — represented by FIRE — sued Collin College and its officials challenging his termination and its policies regulating faculty speech. With his lawsuit, Phillips stood up for the expressive rights of faculty at Collin College and across the country. 

In April 2023, the American Association of University Professors formally censured Collin College after determining that the College subjected Phillips and other professors to “egregious” academic freedom violations.

In June 2023, the parties completed briefing on cross-motions for partial summary judgment. The court denied Dr. Phillips's motion for partial summary judgment. The court denied in part and granted in part Defendants’ motion for partial summary judgment.  

After a five-day trial in November 2023, the jury found that President Matkin terminated Dr. Phillips because of protected speech—a lecture he gave on the history of pandemics. However, the jury also found that President Matkin would have made the same decision in the absence of the protected speech, which is known as the “same decision” defense.