Free Republic

IOWA CITY, Iowa — After years of arguing that liberal Iowa law professors illegally derailed her career, a conservative lawyer will get a second chance to prove her claim to a jury. Selection of jurors began Monday in federal court in Davenport in a lawsuit filed by anti-abortion activist Teresa Manning, who contends that the University of Iowa College of Law refused to hire her for teaching jobs because of her beliefs and associations. The long-running lawsuit has been closely watched in higher education. Manning has reached a deal with a publisher to write a book about her experience, and...

Think politics does not play a part in hiring decisions at universities? Think again. Teresa Wagner, a conservative lawyer, has been in the center of a years-long legal battle with the University of Iowa’s Law School over their decision not to hire her because of her conservative political views. Legal Insurrection, a legal blog, explains her case here. She recently spoke at the conservative family think tank Family Research Council, where she once worked before moving to Iowa. wagner v jones frc event Wagner said that the Iowa law school has “50 tenure track faculty members and there [was] only...

Teresa Wagner is a distinguished attorney, professor, and author. The mother of four, who in the 1990s served as a senior leader here at FRC, is also probably the first FRCer ever to obtain a favorable ruling in a case heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Sadly, her victory before the nation’s highest legal bench is not one she ever wanted to obtain. It only came about because in 2009, Teresa was denied a position at the University of Iowa’s law school because she’s a self-identified conservative who believes in protecting the unborn and sustaining one-man, one-woman marriage. Again, this...

Faith can be an occupational hazard. Just ask Associate Professor Mike Adams. The 21-year teacher of criminology was the perfect candidate for promotion — except for one thing. His faith in Christ. The University of North Carolina Wilmington had hired Adams as an atheist, but his conversion didn’t do much to boost his career. Over time, he started writing columns and doing media appearances from a conservative perspective — infuriating UNCW’s forces of political correctness in the process. Like most universities, the faculty was a fraternity of liberals, who insist on diversity but practice anything but. When Dr. Adams applied...

Gannett paper, link only: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2014/07/15/new-trial-granted-for-republican-suing-u-of-i-law-school/12672069/

Today, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in the case of Wagner v. Jones. Our friend Peter Berkowitz discussed the case in a Wall Street Journal op-ed (it’s behind a pay wall). Teresa Wagner accuses the University of Iowa College of Law of violating her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by refusing to hire her for its legal analysis, writing, and research program due to her strong pro-life views and activism. Her accusation is strongly supported by a comparison of her qualifications for the position and those of the two individuals selected by the law school. Wagner...

On Feb. 13 in St. Paul, Minn., the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in Wagner v. Jones. The appeal is procedurally complex. But the legal question at the heart of the original case has potentially far-reaching implications for public and private legal education. To wit, whether a state law-school may deny employment to faculty candidates because of their political beliefs. In a trial concluded 15 months ago, Teresa Wagner accused the University of Iowa College of Law of violating her First Amendment right of free expression and 14th Amendment right of equal protection under the law when...

A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case of a conservative scholar who claims she was passed over for jobs at the University of Iowa law school because of liberal bias. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Shields called the mistrial in the case of Teresa Wagner after jurors reported they remained hopelessly deadlocked after three days of deliberations. Shields told jurors the move means the case will have to be retried or resolved some other way, such as a settlement. "We'll fight another day," Wagner's lawyer, Stephen Fieweger, said afterward. "This is not over.".. Wagner said that claim was fabricated...

Des Moines Register is a Gannett paper, link only: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/viewart/20121023/NEWS01/310230040/Jury-deliberates-in-case-of-alleged-bias-at-U-of-I?News

University of Iowa President Sally Mason defended the UI's hiring processes on Monday in the wake of a Johnson County Republican protest of what they call political inequality among the campus's faculty. "We adhere strictly to federal law," Mason said. "We're careful to adhere to all the laws, all the guidelines. Political affiliation is not something we ask [during the hiring process.]" The group's protest Monday afternoon was in support of a lawsuit filed by Teresa Wagner, a professor who alleged UI College of Law administrators denied her a job in 2006 because of her conservative political views. Wagner, a...

Iowa Republicans are taking aim at the state's top law school for denying a faculty position to a conservative law professor, who an assistant dean once said embraces politics the rest of the faculty "despises." Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/05/iowa-republicans-blast-law-school-over-refusal-to-hire-conservative-professor/#ixzz1rH2eeqcX

Iowa Republicans are taking aim at the state's top law school for denying a faculty position to a conservative law professor, who an assistant dean once said embraces politics the rest of the faculty "despises." Teresa Wagner, who works as an associate director of writing at the University of Iowa College of Law, is suing former dean Carolyn Jones for employment discrimination, claiming she was not hired for a professor position because Jones and other law faculty disapproved of her conservative views and activism. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/05/iowa-republicans-blast-law-school-over-refusal-to-hire-conservative-professor/#ixzz1rMFNMn2q

Gannett newspaper. Link only.

What was Tom Emmer thinking when he applied for a faculty position at Hamline University? Surely he knows that our campus intelligentsia generally view conservatives like him as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. At many campuses, Emmer might have made it to the second round of interviews if he had been a disabled "person of color" or confused about his sexuality. But even then he probably couldn't have overcome the cardinal rule of campus "diversity" -- diversity of political views will not be tolerated. Given his rejection by Hamline (after he thought he had a job), Emmer might be pleased to know that...

Her main adversary in the hiring process was a professor who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun at the time Justice Blackmun wrote the now infamous Roe v. Wade decision, a professor who has since written in favor of abortion and has written laudatory tributes in Blackmun’s honor. As a consequence of being black-balled – despite impeccable credentials, including graduating “with distinction” from the Iowa College of Law and experience teaching writing at George Mason School of Law - she was passed over in favor of a candidate who not only had no prior law school teaching experience, but...