Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP has filed a lawsuit on behalf of longtime tenured professor Paul Kottman challenging The New School’s decision to terminate him amid a broader university restructuring.

The lawsuit alleges that The New School violated its Faculty Handbook and tenure protections by terminating Kottman even though his department and the colleges where he holds tenure are continuing to operate. It also alleges the university failed to make the required effort to place him in another position, despite the Philosophy and Psychology departments expressing interest in retaining him.

“If tenure does not protect faculty members from arbitrary termination, then tenure — and the free speech and open inquiry that tenure protects — becomes meaningless,” said Professor Kottman. “People need to understand; tenure protects researchers and hence research itself in all areas; without the protection of tenure, research culture in the U.S. is finished. The New School’s recent purge of tenured faculty members gravely threatens this essential principle of academia.”

“Professor Kottman has been a high-performing tenured faculty member at The New School for decades,” said Sam Shapiro, Partner at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP. “His arbitrary termination violates the protections The New School promises its tenured faculty and threatens the institution of tenure across higher education more broadly. Restructuring academic departments cannot become license for universities to cast aside the fundamental protections of tenure, and we are proud to represent Professor Kottman in holding The New School accountable for this egregious violation of those protections.”

The lawsuit asks the court to set aside The New School’s decision to terminate Professor Kottman and seeks compensatory damages and other appropriate relief.

Professor Kottman is represented by ECBAWM attorneys Sam Shapiro and Laura Kokotailo.

Read coverage of the filing below:

New York Times: Professor Sues New School, Claiming Tenure Has Been Dismantled