BIG RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A judge has declined to reinstate a Michigan professor who was suspended in January for making a profanity-filled video to welcome students to a new term.
Barry Mehler said his free speech rights were violated when he was barred from teaching history at Ferris State University while the school investigates his actions. But federal Judge Jane Beckering turned down a request for a preliminary injunction Monday.
Mehler has said his 14-minute video was simply a performance to get his students’ “juices flowing.” He used profanities and made a sexual reference as he rambled on about his attendance policy, grades, plagiarism and COVID-19.
