Simmons University: Professor Non-Renewed After Students Object to Years-Old Pseudonymous Blog Posts

In September 2022, students at Simmons University discovered that two years earlier, when Professor David Kane had taught at Harvard University, he had been accused of writing pseudonymous blog posts about race that some found offensive. Simmons responded by opening a concurrent section of Kane’s introductory statistics course and allowing students to transfer without penalty. Once enough students transferred, the university canceled Kane’s course and non-renewed him. On October 4, 2022, FIRE wrote to Simmons explaining that its actions against Kane violate its strong promises to faculty that they enjoy free expression and academic freedom.