Free Speech

He addressed the UF lawyer's claim of "newly discovered facts" that showed the professors had already begun working on the elections case before their requests to serve as witnesses were rejected.

Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker held a fiery hearing Friday on the plaintiffs’ request to block the university from enforcing a policy that drew national attention after three political science professors were blocked from testifying in an elections law case.

In the lawsuit, the professors claimed university officials told them that going against the executive branch of the government was “adverse” to the school’s interests.

They range from Florida's law cracking down on protests to whether sports betting will be allowed in the state.

The professors filed the lawsuit after the university denied their requests to serve as plaintiffs’ witnesses in a challenge to a new state elections law.

The motion says the university's conflict of interest policy “provides the university unbridled discretion to restrict faculty speech on public issues based on impermissible considerations that have nothing to do with faculty integrity or discipline.”

The trustees' chairmen denied that the trustees played a role in the decision to prohibit the professors from participating in “outside activities” that would conflict with UF’s policies.

The university's report follows an outcry about the school blocking professors from testifying in a challenge to a controversial elections law.

It is seeking documents and communications regarding the creation of the school’s conflicts-of-interest policy after three professors were initially prohibited from testifying in a lawsuit.

The lawsuit comes despite the university reversing course and allowing the professors to testify as experts in a case challenging a new elections law.

University of Florida President Kent Fuchs reversed a decision that kept three professors from serving as expert witnesses in a case on changes to Florida’s election rules Friday.

The United Faculty of Florida made the demand on Friday in response to university leaders prohibiting three professors from being paid as expert witnesses in a lawsuit challenging a new Florida elections law that critics say harms voting rights.