Peterson v. Williams

FIRE filed an amicus curiae brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in support of Plaintiff-Appellant Ken Peterson, a professor at Dixie State University, who was suspended after criticizing the university’s leadership and controversial treatment of a faculty colleague and later fired after refusing to sign a “Last Chance Agreement” that would have limited his future speech. FIRE urged the Tenth Circuit to reverse the district court’s dismissal of Peterson’s First Amendment claims, arguing that his speech was a protected exercise of his rights to academic freedom and to speak as a private citizen about matters of public concern, and that the “Last Chance Agreement” was an impermissible prior restraint on speech.