Uh no.

If you're a professor at a state school, and part of your job involves research into the effectiveness of drug policies in harm prevention, then you're not only allowed to make derogatory comments about your employer but compelled to do so if that is where your research takes you.

This is not about party-political point scoring: lives are literally at stake, never mind fundamental academic freedoms.

I've worked in unclassified roles (not faculty). Academia likes to talk a good game about freedom but their annual appointments make it clear the money you get is at the governor's discretion. It's probably a mistake to exercise that discretion, but it's a mistake faculty are powerless to stop: "If you come at the king, you best not miss."

> Any employee that did that might be subject to negative repercussions, first amendment notwithstanding.

The government is not any employer, though. They deal with their employees under First Amendment restrictions not present in private employment.

>It’s pretty clear from the article what the political leanings of the author are, so it almost comes off as hypocritical and tone deaf to start banging on the first amendment drum on this issue.

Could you clarify?

>Yea it’s strange to be framing this as a first amendment issue.

How so? this is like a textbook example of a first amendment issue from con law in a 1L curriculum