Goldbarth v. Kansas State Board of Regents

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Six, J.:

This case arises in the context of a perceived clash between freedom of speech in the classroom and a university’s responsibility to enforce its sexual harassment policy. Two female graduate students at Wichita State University (WSU) filed grievances against the plaintiff, Albert Goldbarth, a tenured WSU professor. Goldbarth sued WSU, the Kansas State Board of Regents (the Regents) and two WSU administrators. He alleged violations under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994) (color of state law) and other claims, including deprivation of his First Amendment…