Another Collin College professor says his contract was not renewed after he expressed issues with the system鈥檚 COVID-19 safety policies.
Michael Phillips says as the fall semester began, he continued to be bothered by the school鈥檚 approach to the pandemic.
鈥淲e were told we could not use any language at all, urging, recommending, expressing hopes that students would wear masks,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淚t was expanded, saying we shouldn't mention social distancing. I took a photo of that PowerPoint and commented on it because I felt it was something the public ought to know.鈥�
He added: 鈥淚 had the right to comment on matters of public concern.鈥�
He鈥檚 the fourth Collin College professor to not have a contract renewed following concerns about the administration, ranging from leaders鈥� attitudes toward COVID-19 to issues surrounding free speech and academic freedom.
The professors say they were fired.
Collin College said it wouldn鈥檛 comment on personnel matters, but that contracts routinely expire without renewal and that it was 鈥渄ismayed鈥� that some would say otherwise.
鈥淕iven that the renewal or non-renewal of faculty contracts is a routine operational matter at the college, we are dismayed at the efforts of some individuals to present this as anything other than what it truly is,鈥� the college said in a statement.
While Phillips said he urged students in his class to maintain physical distancing and wear masks for safety, he says he forced no one to do so.
Some students complained.
Phillips says he was then called into a meeting and was issued a discipline warning. Four days later, he says an associate dean told him his contract would not be renewed.
鈥淲hich means I would be out of work at the end of the year,鈥� Phillips said.
Phillips says he was let go for reasons similar to three other colleagues dismissed last year. They had publicly objected to what they considered the school鈥檚 unsafe COVID-19 policies.
One, Collin College history professor Lora Burnett, recently accepted a $70,000 payment from the college to end her First Amendment suit.
鈥淢y hope would be that the college reassess this record they have now of trampling on the faculty,鈥� Phillips said. 鈥淭his gets expensive for the taxpayers, and I would hope they would think about public health, would think about the constitution that they swear to uphold, because they're not doing it. All of these are free speech cases. And in each case, the colleges decided to ignore the First Amendment and their own policies.鈥�
Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org . You can follow him on Twitter @bzeeble.
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