v. Cent. Bucks Sch. Dist., 805 F.3d 454, 472 (3d Cir. 2015), (citation omitted) (observing that “the government’s legitimate and countervailing interest, as an employer, in promoting workplace efficiency and avoiding workplace disruption” may tip the Pickering scale); Isibor v. Bd. of Regents of State Univ. & Cmty. Coll. Sys. of Tenn., 891 F.2d 290 (6th Cir. 1989) (stating that “[c]omments which adversely affect close working relationships or disrupt the maintenance of discipline or cause disharmony among coworkers may tip the balance in a defendant’s favor”) .
Even if the term has been watered down over the years, calling a colleague a racist is hardly collegial, and threatening to place him and the group he advises on a “list” is no better. Moreover, like other institutions of higher learning, TTU has rules that need to be followed in order for the institution to fulfill its educational mandate and mission. It certainly is not too much for a university to ask that its faculty members act professionally, engage in ethical conduct, be respectful, and maintain the highest level of integrity as required by Policy 600. Sneaking around and dropping-off anonymous flyers attacking a fellow professor falls short of such conduct, or so the university could reasonably conclude. Likewise, namelessly identifying a group as promoting hate without substantiating the allegation cuts against the promotion of the “free exchange of ideas” contemplated by Policy 007.
It is true, as Plaintiffs point out, that TTU has shown little in the way of actual harm. To the contrary, Dr. Donadio and Ms. Sciolis were so unfazed that they went on Fox television. That Plaintiffs unwittingly provided those two fodder for potentially spreading their ideas to a broader audience says nothing about the propriety of the university’s reaction. Besides, “[s]chool officials have an affirmative duty to not only ameliorate the harmful effects of disruptions, but to prevent them from happening in the first place,” even though “‘forecasting disruption is unmistakably
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Case 2:21-cv-00039 Document 90 Filed 12/01/22 Page 18 of 27 PageID #: 8930
