Former Professor Says Christian University Ended His Contract For Teaching About ‘Racial Justice’
Kate Anderson on March 17, 2023
A former English professor claims that a Christian university in Florida chose not to renew his contract due to his teachings on “racial justice” that allegedly sparked complaints, according to an Instagram post.
Samuel Joeckel was formerly a professor of English at Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBAU) and posted on his Instagram on Feb. 16 that he had been confronted about his class series on racial justice. On Wednesday, Joeckel posted again saying that his contract had not been renewed with the university and that he believes it was because of the content in his classrooms, according to an Instagram post.
“Today, the deadline passed for Palm Beach Atlantic University to make a decision on my contract for next school year,” Joeckel wrote. “They did this for a clear reason: my decision to teach and speak about racial justice. The timing of this is not a coincidence as we are dealing with an ‘anti-woke” crusade from Governor DeSantis and other far-right politicians and activists.’”
Joeckel said in his post in February that PBAU’s provost and dean were waiting for him after class on Feb. 15 and allegedly informed him that they were going to need to look at his “syllabi and racial-justice PowerPoint presentations” before renewing his contract. The university officials reportedly expressed concerns that Joeckel was “indoctrinating” his class.
Joeckel said on his Wednesday post that the “deadline” for PBAU to renew his contract had officially expired and PBAU Vice President of Marketing Jason Masterson told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Joeckel was “no longer affiliated with the university.” Masterson further noted that he was “not able to provide additional information about personnel matters.”
The former professor explained in his post that he believed the university’s decision went against his “Christian beliefs that I hold closely.”
“PBA has chosen to reject the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: ‘Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, [racial] injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured,’” Joeckel wrote.
He concluded the post by announcing that following PBAU’s decision he would be seeking legal options to “fight back” in order to ensure the university “cannot get away with this.”
Joeckel did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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