During his 18-year tenure at Louisiana’s largest public university, journalism professor Robert Mann courted backlash for speaking out against the state’s top political leaders.
Republicans called for Mann’s firing after he criticized former governor Bobby Jindal amid the state’s 2016 budget crisis. In 2021, Mann drew the ire of Jeff Landry, then state attorney general, for a tweet lambasting Landry’s effort to block a Covid-19 vaccine mandate at Louisiana State University.
Now, the professor is tired of battling Louisiana politicians.
Mann announced his resignation after Landry, a rightwing disciple of Donald Trump, won a multi-party primary in Louisiana on Saturday.
Landry is preparing to be sworn in as governor in January after capturing a majority of the votes cast in Saturday’s race. Mann, a journalism professor at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication, plans to step down at the end of the academic year.
“I have this morning informed my dean that I will step down from my position at LSU at the end of the school year,” Mann posted on X. “My reasons are simple: the person who will be governor in January has already asked LSU to fire me. And I have no confidence the leadership of this university would protect the Manship School against a governor’s efforts to punish me and other faculty members.”
Mann’s resignation comes amid the GOP’s fight to seize control of American colleges and universities. Rightwing lawmakers this year introduced more than 50 bills across 23 states aimed at eliminating faculty tenure, a longstanding job protection policy to protect academics from outside interference. Florida, Texas, Tennessee and North Dakota this year enacted legislation that would unravel Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts at state colleges and universities, making it more difficult for higher education to protect marginalized students. Earlier this week, Wisconsin Republicans used Universities of Wisconsin employee salaries as a bargaining chip against the school’s fight to protect DEI spending.
Professors like Mann are unwilling to remain on the frontlines of the GOP’s battle on higher education – especially without the backing of university leadership.
In his previous spars with Jindal, Mann told the Guardian he received meaningful support from Stuart Bell, LSU’s former provost, now president of the University of Alabama.
“When Jindal’s cronies came after me, Stuart Bell called me,” Mann told the Guardian. “He said, nothing will happen to you, we have your back, we’re going to take care of this.”
Mann had a tense relationship with F King Alexander, LSU’s former administrator. Even Alexander threw his support behind Mann.
“I was not always his biggest fan, but when people came after me, King called me personally to say, ‘We don’t always agree, but the one thing we do agree on is academic freedom and free speech on campus,’’” Mann said.
LSU’s resolve to protect Mann appeared to dissolve in 2021, when he sparred with Landry over the attorney general’s opposition to the coronavirus vaccine and masking requirements.
Landry, who sued the Biden administration after it mandated Covid vaccinations for federal contractors, had been opposed to stricter vaccine requirements at LSU. And he sent a representative to a university meeting where vaccines were discussed.
In response, Mann tweeted: “Louisiana AG Jeff Landry sending some flunkie to the LSU Faculty Senate meeting today to read a letter attacking Covid vaccines is quite the move from a guy who considers himself ‘pro-life’.”
Landry was unhappy with the characterization. He said he had spoken with the LSU president “and expressed my disdain and expectation for accountability”.
He added: “This type of disrespect and dishonesty has no place in our society – especially at our flagship university by a professor. I hope LSU takes appropriate action soon.”
Mann said the university administration did not communicate with him after Landry’s tweets, a troubling departure from the assurances he had received from previous LSU leaders. Mann was ultimately not punished, but he said LSU’s “radio silence” sent a clear message: professors like him should fend for themselves.
“The administration needs to defend and protect academic freedom all the time,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).
Mulvey said LSU leadership should have released a “robust defense of academic freedom” when Landry demanded that Mann be disciplined for his tweet.
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“When an individual is attacked, the administration’s job is to step up with a robust defense of academic freedom,” Mulvey said. “Their job is to be the firewall against interference from the statehouse, wealthy donors, whoever.”
To Mann, his exit from LSU is not especially dramatic. He planned to retire soon, but Landry’s ascension to the governor’s seat, coupled with his lack of faith in LSU’s administration, expedited his departure.
In his final months at the university, Mann worries about his younger colleagues, noting the professors will be hesitant to “stick their neck out” on controversial research topics, especially as GOP attacks on higher education continue to escalate.
“I think we as professors are easy targets in the culture wars,” he said. “The distrust of intellectualism, and especially that distrust of science, it’s a pretty big part of the GOP message today.”
A recent survey by the AAUP found that a growing percentage of faculty in Texas, Florida, Georgia and North Carolina are “considering leaving” their current jobs to find employment in a state that is less hostile to higher education.
“It is astounding to me that attaining a quality higher education is becoming a red or blue state issue,” said Dr Liz Leininger, a former faculty member at New College of Florida, a small liberal arts college in Sarasota.
New College, long antagonized by rightwing Florida officials for its progressive ethos, is now firmly under the control of Ron DeSantis, the rightwing governor.
DeSantis staged a hostile takeover of New College earlier this year, appointing conservative activists to the school’s board of trustees in January. Just eight months later, nearly 40% of New College faculty had resigned.
Leininger, now a neuroscience professor in Maryland, worried about a future where rightwing politicians are given carte blanche to interfere with public universities.
She said faculty will continue to flee to blue states and private universities, which are more insulated from political interference.
“We’re going to have educational inequalities in a lot of these states,” she said. “The quality of education available to richer students, who can afford private colleges, will be a lot different than these public schools that are reacting to political pressure”
At the end of a roughly two-decade stint at LSU, Mann shared Leininger’s worries about the future of public higher education in Louisiana.
His parting wish is that the LSU administration protect younger faculty members, especially those without tenure, from any efforts by the Landry administration to quash academic freedom on campus.
“I’m not the only person standing up for academic freedom on campus,” he said. “Most faculty members don’t come here for a career in politics, they did not sign up for the culture war.”