The Michigan professor whose viral profanity-laced tirade while wearing a fishbowl helmet earned him an indefinite suspension has filed a lawsuit seeking to be reinstated.
Ferris State University placed Barry Mehler on administrative leave after the professor’s vulgar rant against in-person classes went viral.
Now Mehler is suing the university, seeking reinstatement and claiming the university in Big Rapids, Michigan, violated his first amendment right to freedom of speech, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In the video, Mehler told his students they were “vectors of disease” and that they should stay away from him. The university also earned his ire for refusing to switch classes to online instruction.
FISHBOWL HELMET-WEARING PROFESSOR PLACED ON LEAVE OVER PROFANITY-LACED RANT ABOUT COVID-19
“I’m old enough to be your grandpa, and you people are vectors of disease to me,” Mehler told his students. “So when I look out at a classroom filled with 50 students, what I see is 50 selfish kids who don’t care if grandpa lives or dies.”
Mehler also told students that if they complained to the dean, “f*** you,” and he said he “couldn’t give a flying f*** any longer” because he was retiring at the end of the semester. Mehler said his comments were inspired by the famously profane HBO drama Deadwood.
The president of the university, David Eisler, told the Detroit News at the time of the suspension that he was “shocked and appalled” by Mehler’s video and that “it is profane, offensive, and disturbing and in no way reflects our university or its values.”
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Mehler seeks to have a court order the university to reinstate him for the classes he was scheduled to teach for the spring semester and “restore his faculty biography webpage and remove restrictions to access campus and contact students,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
