MESSAGE
| DATE | 2025-11-21 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] University of Kentucky professor sues after being
|
What is dangerous is this fascist thinks it is OK to sue the lawschool
for barring him for being a bigoted islamists and fascist.
University of Kentucky professor sues after being barred from law school
after calling for an 'end' to Israel
Kristine Parks
6–7 minutes
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A University of Kentucky law professor who claims he was pulled from
teaching and barred from his law school building after posting a
petition calling for "military action" against Israel is suing the
university, alleging First Amendment retaliation and other
constitutional violations.
Ramsi Woodcock, a tenured law professor at the J. David Rosenberg
College of Law, filed a federal lawsuit on Nov.13, claiming
administrators punished him for political speech made outside the
classroom, including a 2024 "Petition for Military Action Against
Israel" he posted online.
"We demand that every country in the world make war on Israel
immediately and until such time as Israel has submitted permanently and
unconditionally to the government of Palestine everywhere from the
Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea," the petition on his website
called the "Antizionist Legal Studies Movement" reads.
On his website, Woodcock argues that Israel is committing genocide
against Palestinians and does not have a right to exist. He has called
for the international community to bring an "end" to Israel.
According to the complaint, Woodcock had expressed similar views since
early 2024 "with no issue," sharing them at faculty research seminars,
conferences, law school meetings, online discussions and his blog. He
says that changed after Kentucky passed Joint Resolution 55 in April
2025, directing public universities to combat antisemitism, utilizing
the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition.
Anti-Israel protesters hold protest signs
Professor Ramsi A. Woodcock's website calls for international war
against Israel to save Palestinians. ( Andy Soloman/UCG/Universal Images
Group via Getty Images)
ANTISEMITIC ‘VENOM’ INFECTING CAMPUSES GETS WORSE AS UNIVERSITIES PLAY
‘ROPE-A-DOPE’ WITH TRUMP ADMIN: EXPERT
He alleges the university subsequently adopted a policy in July,
requiring its equal-opportunity office to apply the IHRA definition,
which the Board of Trustees formally approved that September.
Woodcock claims that the university's "tolerance" of his speech ended in
the summer of 2025, "after federal government threats to withdraw
funding from universities, federal enforcement of the IHRA definition,
and passage of Joint Resolution 55 enabled and pressured administrators
to suppress speech critical of Israel and Zionism."
On July 18, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto issued a
public statement calling Woodcock’s rhetoric "repugnant" and not
reflective of the university's views. That same day, the lawsuit says,
the university administratively reassigned Woodcock to "100%
professional development," canceled his classes, barred him from the law
building and hired outside counsel for an investigation. This followed a
July 9 meeting at which a vice provost told Woodcock they had received
reports he had spoken about genocide at conferences and questioned a
link to his personal website on his College of Law profile page.
The lawsuit argues the IHRA definition "characterizes broad categories
of constitutionally-protected speech critical of Israel as antisemitic."
It brings First Amendment retaliation and due-process violation, race
discrimination and an Administrative Procedure Act claim that seeks to
bar the U.S. Department of Education from using or requiring the IHRA
definition in its Title VI enforcement.
Linda McMahon looks on
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is named as a defendant in the
professor's lawsuit. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
‘DR ANTIFA’ RUTGERS PROFESSOR ANNOUNCES MOVE TO EUROPE AFTER TPUSA
PETITION CALLS FOR HIS FIRING
Woodcock is asking the court to declare Kentucky’s measure
unconstitutional, prohibit the university from relying on the IHRA
definition in disciplinary matters, halt the ongoing investigation,
restore his teaching and campus access, and award compensatory and
punitive damages plus attorneys’ fees.
The lawsuit names as defendants University President Eli Capilouto,
Provost Robert DiPaola, General Counsel William Thro, Law Dean James
Duff and Education Secretary Linda McMahon in her official capacity.
University of Kentucky spokesperson Jay Blanton told Fox News Digital
that professor Woodcock wasn’t suspended or fired but "reassigned
pending the outcome of an investigation," calling that step "entirely
appropriate and consistent with institutional norms and past practices."
He pointed to President Capilouto’s July 18 statement and said that
while faculty have free speech rights, the university must act under
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act if speech threatens staff and students’
safety and well-being.
University of Kentucky campus memorial hall.
Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of Kentucky on Oct. 25,
2013, in Lexington, Kentucky. ( Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
ETHICS PROFESSOR SUES UNIVERSITY, SAYS HE WAS FIRED OVER CRITICISM OF
GENDER POLICIES
Blanton said its academic freedom policy is consistent with the Sixth
Circuit Court of Appeals and protects speech within a professor’s area
of expertise but does not extend to creating a "hostile environment,"
which is what it tasked outside counsel to review. He added that the
university also has the right to express its own values and will limit
further comment while the investigation proceeds.
In a statement, Woodcock told Fox News Digital, "Israel is a
colonization project that practices apartheid and is currently
exterminating two million Palestinians in Gaza. The scandal is not that
I am calling for immediate military action to end Israel but that the
university is willing to violate our nation's Constitution in order to
preserve Israel. Every American has a First Amendment right to oppose
Israel and I look forward to holding the university accountable for
breaking the law."
The U.S. Department of Education did not return Fox News Digital's
request for comment.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Kristine Parks is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Read more.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
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DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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