Professor Accuses U. of Montana's Law School of Discriminating Against Him for Holding Conservative Views
By Jennifer Jacobson--Chronicle of Higher Education, 07/06/04

 

A professor at the University of Montana has asked the state Board of Regents to reverse a decision the by the university's School of Law denying him the opportunity to teach constitutional law. He accused the law school of discriminating against him for years because of his conservative political views.

 

"The law school apparently views this course as politically sensitive, and has kept it in liberal hands for over 20 years," Robert G. Natelson wrote in his complaint to the board, which he filed last week.

 

Mr. Natelson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor in 1996 and 2000, said the law school had turned down each of his four requests to teach the course since he joined the faculty, in 1987. He said he had asked to be transferred to the course each time there was a vacancy to teach it.

 

"There's a uniform history of allowing faculty members to move from the courses they're teaching into vacant courses," Mr. Natelson told The Chronicle. "And the only time that has been broken is when I've applied to teach constitutional law."

 

E. Edwin Eck, dean of the law school, declined to comment until a university hearing is held on the matter this month or in August.

 

In a letter the professor sent last week to John Mercer, the board's chairman, Mr. Natelson said he had "compiled a record of publication and public service that rivals any other faculty member." He said his publications in the past three or four years, mostly in constitutional law and constitutional history, accounted for about 40 percent of all publications by current faculty members at Montana's law school.

 

Mr. Natelson also said political discrimination by a state agency is unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

 

Mr. Mercer declined to comment on the letter.

 

"If you reverse the law school's decision, you will send a firm message that university decisions must be fair, factually based, and unbiased," wrote Mr. Natelson, who also said that because of his political views, the law school had never awarded him merit-pay raises.

 

Mr. Natelson has taught courses in property, real-estate transactions, and legal history in the past academic year.

 

He said conservative students have complained to him over the years that there was a lack of balance in the teaching of constitutional law at the university. For instance, he said, one student told him that there was no discussion in the course of the Second Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms.