BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — A Bakersfield College history professor is suing a number of administrators at the school, including the Interim President, Dean of Instruction, Kern Community College District Chancellor, and the KCCD Board of Trustees.
According to the Institute for Free Speech, formerly known as the Center for Competitive Politics, the lawsuit is due to a complaint that BC allegedly punished faculty members for exercising their right of freedom of speech.
Professor Daymon Johnson is the faculty lead on campus for the Renegade Institute for Liberty, a coalition of school faculty aiming to "advance American ideals within the broader Western tradition of meritocracy, individual agency, civic virtue, liberty of conscience and free markets." The group says that its goal is to promote and preserve freedom of thought through open discussion of political ideas.
The coalition claims that Johnson filed the complaint after his predecessor, Matthew Garrett, was terminated after speaking out against the college's preferred views.
