North Carolina Public School Officials ‘Unlawfully’ Fired Professor For Opposing ‘Racially Divisive Ideology,’ Lawsuit Alleges

The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction “unlawfully” fired Dr. David Phillips from its Governor’s School in 2021 for opposing “racially divisive ideology,” a lawsuit filed by the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, who represents Phillips, alleged Monday.

The Governor’s School, a publicly funded summer program for advanced high school students, fired Phillips after he delivered “three optional seminars” which opposed “critical theory” and “the increasing bias and lack of viewpoint diversity in higher education,” ADF said in a press release. After the lectures, “a group of students and staff members reacted with open hostility, referencing race, gender, sexual orientation, and religion in their comments and questions,” ADF claimed.

Phillips reportedly stayed after the lecture to answer the questions and offered to meet the students at a later time, but was fired the day after the last seminar, according to ADF’s lawsuit.