Tenured Associate Professor Steven Salaita, last night, filed a response to the University of Illinois motion to dismiss his civil rights lawsuit against the Board of Trustees, University of Illinois officials and donors. The response lays out the underlying constitutional, contractual and tort-based claims at the heart of the lawsuit and addresses how the complaint alleges significant violations of Professor Salaita’s rights.

Professor Salaita, through his attorneys, argues, at this stage before discovery when plaintiff’s allegations should be taken as true, the result requested by the defendants—dismissal against all defendants on all counts—would be a miscarriage of justice! See here the Salaita response to dismissal attempt: IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, EASTERN DIVISION, STEVEN SALAITA, Plaintiff, v. CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY, et al., Defendants.

His response also contains an excellent history of this viewpoint-cleansing case, whereby the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign engaged in direct defiance of the First Amendment, and demonstrated a failure to respect, much less protect, controversial views on matters of public concern.