A Mississippi college professor says he was fired for emailing his students the day after Donald Trump’s 2024 election victory and calling the US a “racist and fascist country.”
James Bowley, 62, a veteran professor and chair of religious studies at Millsaps College in Jackson, was placed on temporary administrative leave pending review on November 8, 2024 – two days after he sent the email on the outcome of the election result, according to the non-profit civil liberties group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression(FIRE).
Bowley told The Independent that the November 6 email was sent to his “Abortion and Religions” class to notify them he was canceling their lesson in the wake of Trump’s defeat of Kamala Harris.
The email’s subject line read, “No class today” followed by a message to his three students that read “Need time to mourn and process this racist and fascist country.”
The college’s provost Stephanie Rolph Bowley rebuked Bowley for using his “Millsaps email account to share personal opinions with [his] students” and placed him on temporary leave, said the non-profit.
The professor told The Independent that he was formally fired by Millsaps on Tuesday.
“I was shocked initially when I got a call from the interim provost saying I was put on leave for sending an email to a class of three students to let them know I was canceling their lesson,” he told The Independent.
“It left me completely dumbfounded and I did not know that talking to my students would be censored. Nor, that I could, and would, lose my job for doing that.”
The Independent has contacted Millsaps College for comment.
Bowley claimed that Millsaps locked him out of all of his electronic devices so he could no longer complete his ancient history scholarship, or communicate with other scholars. But above all, he lost all access to his work with other teachers and students.
He added: “I was saddened by lots of things about it, not only was I fired but I was also banned from going on campus and talking to students.”
Bowley says that the president of Millsaps, Frank Neville, rejected the advice of the faculty-elected grievance committee, which did not view the email as a violation of policy.
“I love my students and I’m an award-winning teacher,” he said of his disappointment at the college’s decision.
The faculty-elected committee reportedly recommended that the veteran professor be immediately reinstated, compensated for his classes that got canceled while on leave, and that the interim provosts apologize to him, he told The Independent.
According to the Millsaps “Handbook for Staff Employees”, under “academic freedom” they state: “While Millsaps College is committed to upholding the principles of academic freedom and shared governance, freedom of speech, discrimination, and harassment identified in this policy are neither legally protected expression nor the proper exercise of academic freedom.”
It goes on to invite anyone who believes they have been discriminated against or harassed to report it.
The professor told The Independent that he has since filed a grievance and is debating filing a lawsuit if not reinstated in his job.
He has since appealed to the board of trustees who have acknowledged his request but is yet to hear when his appeal will be heard.
The professor praised the overwhelming support received by his students, colleagues, and external organizations and remained hopeful that something good could materialize.
