Millsaps College: Professor Placed on Leave for Sharing Personal Opinions with Students

On November 6, 2024 – the day after the 2024 presidential election – Professor James Bowley sent an email to the three students enrolled in his “Abortion and Religions” class canceling that day’s session to “mourn and process this racist fascist country[.]” On November 8, Interim Provost Stephanie Rolph informed Bowley that he had been placed on temporary administrative leave pending review, specifically for using his “Millsaps email account to share personal opinions with [his] students.” FIRE wrote Millsaps on December XX, explaining that Bowley’s expression of opinion falls squarely within Millsaps’ policy that when “speaking or writing as a citizen, the teacher is free from institutional censorship or discipline[.]” FIRE urged Millsaps to drop the review, allow Bowley to resume teaching, and decline to mete out further discipline.