Legal fund calls on University of Illinois to reinstate Catholic professor

CNA: “Travis Barham, litigation staff counsel for the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, wrote a letter on July 12 to several officials at the University of Illinois, including the president, the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the head of the religion department. ‘In relieving Dr. Howell of his teaching responsibilities, the University is firing him for teaching Catholic doctrine in a class about Catholic doctrine,’ Barham said. He noted that ‘the University’s only reason for removing Dr. Howell is that other students, faculty, and staff disliked his speech.’ However, he continued, the First Amendment ‘exists precisely to protect controversial ideas from being silenced’ and ‘affords broad protection for a professor’s speech in the classroom.’”