Can Looney Professor James Tracy Be Fired For Being an Idiot

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/can-professor-be-fired-doubting-sandy-hook-massacre-n482591

In the three years since his 6-year-old son died in the Sandy Hook massacre, Lenny Pozner has fought an underground movement of conspiracy theorists who claim the attack — and his boy's existence — was an elaborate hoax.

He has complained to police, filed legal injunctions, and, last week, wrote an op-ed in a Florida newspaper targeting his highest-profile skeptic: a communications professor at Florida Atlantic University.

Last week, Florida Atlantic responded by moving to fire Professor James Tracy, a step that could propel the debate from the fringes of the Internet to the halls of academia — and a battle over free speech and academic freedom.

It could be a tough fight.

Professors at public universities have the right to say contentious things in their off-campus lives.

There are certain lines that academics cannot cross, said Donald Downs, a law professor and free-speech scholar at the University of Wisconsin. That can include harassment, threats and making it seem as though they're speaking for their employer.

Short of that, the case for firing is difficult to make, Downs said.