SUNY Cortland English professor back to teaching after 13-month suspension for classroom lecture

Clinical voyeurism, autoerotic asphyxiation (don’t Google it), and sexual offender registries are just a few of the topics Professor Mario Hernandez discusses in his introductory writing class to show the range of excellent composition. But when SUNY Cortland suspended him for teaching provocative writing, Hernandez decided to fight back. With help from an experienced First Amendment attorney secured by FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund, he’s now back in the classroom. 

SUNY Cortland’s investigation into Hernandez was at the 10-month mark when he called FIRE’s FLDF hotline last September. What were administrators investigating? For decades, Hernandez has assigned freshmen wide-ranging examples of prominent writing without incident. Growing up in New York City, Hernandez shared New Yorker stories — one about someone with an undiagnosed and untreated advanced condition of voyeurism, another on sex offenders registries, among many other topics. To demonstrate the sheer breadth of issues students can write about for their research papers, he briefly mentioned the pornographic subgenre of autoerotic asphyxiation. When it comes to great writing, no area was off limits. 

For allowing his students’ imaginations to run wild, the university hit Hernandez with a Title IX investigation. Administrators twisted this landmark federal law banning discrimination on the basis on sex in schools to police Hernandez’s lecture content. Suspended for doing his job, investigated for the majority of 2024 and facing possible termination, Hernandez sought FIRE’s help. 

As a contingent professor, I would not have been able to afford the considerable boost my FLDF lawyer brought to my side without FIRE’s unconditional commitment to every American’s right to freedom of speech.

FLDF promptly connected him with FIRE Legal Network attorney Stephanie Adams, who quickly jumped into action to prepare for Hernandez’s November 2024 hearing. Adams and her legal team explained to the university how the First Amendment protects professors’ academic freedom, which encompasses the right to lecture, teach, and assign materials relevant to their subject matter. In an introductory composition class, provocative writing is par for the course, fully within a professor’s academic role and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

On Dec. 13, the university cleared and reinstated Hernandez. His 13-month nightmare was finally over. 

“Faculty who teach writing must teach their students to embrace rigor, to accept criticism, and to tackle uncomfortable subjects — this investigation showed Professor Hernandez to be just that type of teacher,” said Adams. “The fact that this process took Professor Hernandez out of his classroom for over two semesters should be a call to action for every academic and faculty leader.”

Hernandez is far from the first professor ensnared by bogus Title IX charges for protected classroom expression and won’t be the last. FIRE’s FLDF program stands ready to provide public university faculty facing similar issues with First Amendment attorneys, free of charge. Because Hernandez reached out to FIRE, we were able to get him the help he needed to get back to teaching. 

Faculty Legal Defense Fund

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The Faculty Legal Defense Fund offers “first responder” assistance in protecting academic freedoms held by faculty at public colleges and universities.

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“FIRE was a powerful ally when I faced a Title IX investigation at my university. My FLDF lawyer worked seamlessly both with me and with my union, United University Professions, to make sense of the situation I was facing and to craft the strongest defense both of my innocence in the face of harassment charges and of my academic freedom,” said Hernandez. “As a contingent professor, I would not have been able to afford the considerable boost my FLDF lawyer brought to my side without FIRE’s unconditional commitment to every American’s right to freedom of speech.”

If you are a public university or college professor facing investigations or punishment for your speech, contact the Faculty Legal Defense Fund: Submit a case or call the 24-hour hotline at 254-500-FLDF (3533).