A Louisiana State University law professor is suing LSU after being suspended from his teaching responsibilities for making some humor-laced political comments in class, including phrases such as “F– Landry” and “F– Trump.”
Professor Ken Levy, who has been teaching at LSU since 2009, filed the lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors of LSU and A&M College on Jan. 28 in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge. Levy was suspended with pay earlier this month for comments he made before more than 80 students during his Administration of Criminal Justice course.
The course discussion included references to a First Amendment issue at the LMU Paul M. Hebert School of Law last year, when Levy’s colleague, professor Nicholas Bryner, raised concerns about some students’ justification for voting for President Trump.
“... If you voted for Trump on the idea that you don’t like him personally but that you like his policies, I just want you to think about the message that that sends to other people and how you can prove that, by treating other people in a way that matches that sentiment,” Bryner told students.
The incident drew sharp criticism from Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who suggested that the professor was attempting to intimidate or belittle students in his class.
“If the school does not discipline Mr. Bryner for his comments, I hope the board will look into this matter, as LSU professors are prohibited from utilizing state resources to influence public policy,” Landry said in a Nov. 25 letter.
Levy told students he did not want to become Landry’s next target, but he went on to say that the rights included in the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth amendments may be hollowed out or eliminated as a result of the second Trump administration’s policies and the current U.S. Supreme Court.
“If Gov. Landry were to retaliate against (Levy), then ‘F– the governor’ and ‘F–’ that – all of which was a joke and clearly said in a joking manner to highlight his no (tape) recording policy in class,” the lawsuit states. “Many students laughed, as they did throughout the class at professor Levy’s other jokes.”
He also said, “F– those of you who like him (Trump), you can” and added that the professor doesn’t pay heed to “what Trump is doing,” the complaint says.
Levy was relieved of his teaching responsibilities on Jan. 17, pending an investigation into student complaints of comments made during the first week of class. In the lawsuit, he argues that his treatment was an affront to academic freedom and his status as a tenured professor.
“Petitioner shows that immediate and irreparable injury, loss and damage will result before the adverse party can be heard in opposition,” the lawsuit says. “Specifically, (the) petitioner was unilaterally removed from his teaching duties, despite the fact he is a tenured full professor, in violation of his rights to academic freedom, free speech and without substantive or procedural due process.”
Levy is also seeking a temporary restraining order against the Board of Supervisors and an order of reinstatement that prohibits the board from interfering with the protections accorded him by the Louisiana and U.S. constitutions.
A spokesman for the LSU law school told the Louisiana Record it was against university policy to discuss personnel matters. But the incident is on the radar of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which has a history of filing lawsuits on behalf of professors who faced administrative actions over their comments on campus.
“We are looking into this situation,” Graham Piro, FIRE’s Faculty Legal Defense Fund fellow, told the Record in an email. “There are two recent high-profile issues involving LSU that are worth flagging.”
Piro mentioned the case of Levy's fellow law professor Bryner as well as an incident involving graduate student instructor Marcus Venable, who was fired in 2023 after leaving a profanity-filled voicemail for a local elected leader.
Levy’s record of essays and commentaries indicate he has a colorful approach to political topics. His writings include the following titles: “Republicans Are the Worst,” “Is Trump Responsible for His Bad Behavior?” and “Sorry, Republican Senators: Alan Dershowitz’s Theory of Impeachment is Total Bullshit.”