Judge rules in LSU law professor case

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Embattled LSU law professor Ken Levy won another round in court Tuesday after a judge ordered LSU to return him to the classroom while a university internal investigation into his conduct continues.

Levy is expected to return to teaching on Thursday, February 13.

District Judge Tarvald Smith granted Levy’s request for a temporary restraining order against LSU.

He was the second judge to issue that same order, with the First Circuit striking down the first restraining order until an evidentiary hearing could be held.

That hearing began Monday and included testimony from Levy, LSU President William Tate, LSU students, the dean of the LSU law school and others.

While giving the final ruling on Tuesday, Judge Smith read the First Amendment out loud in court, saying he did not see a problem with the language Levy used in class.

“The use of profanity in this court’s opinion is dismissive and that he does not agree with a political figure,” Smith said.

During closing arguments, Levy’s attorney Jill Craft said, “If we can’t be in a society where there’s unfettered dialogue...then what kind of lawyers are we creating because we no longer have a system of justice that is primarily on the notion of zealous advocacy.”

Jimmy Faircloth, the attorney representing LSU, blamed Levy’s team for creating fear in students who testified earlier in court today.

“They are whipping up the fear,” Faircloth said. “There’s not an ounce of evidence that President Tate’s decision was to punish someone’s political beliefs.”

Outside the courthouse, Levy reacted to the ruling, saying “everyone was vulnerable if I lost this.”

“Shame on LSU. Shame on the leadership for doing this to me and really doing it to everybody else through me,” Levy said. “They were incompetent, they were callous, they knowingly violated my rights.”

LSU removed professor Levy from his teaching assignments at the LSU Law School last month after he gave a profanity-laced classroom lecture that included unflattering remarks about both Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and President Donald Trump.

The university says Levy is on paid administrative leave while it investigates the allegations against him. He is currently allowed to be on campus, but is not allowed to teach, LSU said.

LSU President Tate testified Tuesday afternoon that he was the one who decided to remove Levy from the classroom until an internal investigation could be conducted.

Tate said his decision came after he reviewed a transcript of Levy’s lecture and found that “the totality of it was over a line that I would expect to see in a law classroom.” Tate testified that he has never listened to the actual audio recording of the lecture, which captures students laughing at several points during the lecture.

Tate testified he had not spoken to Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry about this incident, but acknowledged he had several conversations about it with LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott Ballard. Landry appointed Ballard to the board and the two are longtime friends.

Tate testified this is a case about conduct, not academic freedom. “I would fight in this courtroom myself for academic freedom,” Tate said. “I never saw this as a case of academic freedom.”

LSU has not said how long its internal investigation could take.

Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.

Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.