A short excerpt from the long decision in Patterson v. Kent State Univ., decided Friday by Judge John Nalbandian, joined by Judges Danny Boggs and Richard Allen Griffin:
GPat Patterson, a transgender professor at Kent State University, sued the university on several discrimination and retaliation claims. The claims arise out of Kent State's response to Patterson's weeks-long, profanity-laden Twitter tirade insulting colleagues and the university….
Patterson alleged that certain university actions—"(1) the Dean revoking her offer to lighten Patterson's credit load, (2) the Dean's '[r]evocation' of Patterson's leadership role in the Center, and (3) the English department's denial of the tenure-transfer request" through which Patterson sought to transfer] "from Kent State's Tuscarawas campus to the English department on the main campus"—were discriminatory or retaliatory. No, said the court.
[A.] The court concluded that the actions weren't retaliation against First-Amendment-protected speech:
