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Fired LSU Professor Teresa Buchanan Says She Still Doesn't Know What She Did Wrong

Fired LSU Professor Says She Still Doesn't Know What She Did Wrong
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Senior Editor, HuffPost Live

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An education professor fired from Louisiana State University for creating a "hostile learning environment" by using explicit language told HuffPost Live on Wednesday that she did her job "well" and never harassed any student.

Teresa Buchanan was terminated from LSU on June 18. Baton Rouge newspaper The Advocate reported that a faculty committee accused Buchanan of "saying 'f*** no' repeatedly in the presence of students, using a slang term for vagina that implies cowardice and telling a joke that the quality of sex gets worse the longer a relationship lasts."

The university said in a statement it was concerned about Buchanan's alleged "history of inappropriate behavior that included verbal abuse, intimidation and harassment of our students," and because "she was asked not to return to more than one elementary school in the Baton Rouge area within the last three years."

But Buchanan told HuffPost Live that she still has not received a personal explanation for what she specifically did wrong. Her best guess, she explained, is that a student complained about her to the school's dean. But Buchanan is dissatisfied with the way the complaint was handled from there.

"Students complain about professors, and we have a procedure to follow, and that wasn't followed. Instead I was removed immediately from teaching and [referred] to human resources to investigate me for sexual harassment," Buchanan said.

Part of that investigation involved administrators confronting Buchanan with any "ugly" things students had written about her in their end-of-semester course evaluations, many of which she characterizes as "silly."

"One of them said I said men are better than women, which is just ludicrous, but they believed that I said that, because a student had written it down on a course evaluation," Buchanan said.

Since Buchanan was fired she received support from the American Association of University Professors. The professor told HuffPost Live that while she may have made some students uncomfortable, her behavior was not inappropriate.

"Good teaching often bothers students," Buchanan said. "Good teaching often upsets people. That's part of the cognitive maturation process."

Watch Teresa Buchanan share her side of the story of her firing in the video above.

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Before You Go

11 Student and Faculty Victories Over Campus 'Free Speech Zones'
Tufts University (1988–89)(01 of11)
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Students at Tufts University successfully defeated an effort by university administrators to institute free speech zones in one of the first victories over such zones in the country. The plan came in response to outrage over a student on campus selling T-shirts carrying the slogan “Why Beer is Better Than Women at Tufts.” The student was disciplined, but his punishment was eventually dropped when the school realized it had no code prohibiting his speech. When the plan for the speech zones was released, students responded by creating an ad hoc group called the Tufts Free Speech Movement. In protest, the group went around campus physically marking off areas as either free or unfree for speech. Too embarrassed to battle against free speech publicly, Tufts eventually dropped its plan. Then-President Jean Mayer even admitted that drafting the plan was a mistake in the first place. (credit:Flickr:PetroleumJelliffe)
New Mexico State University (2000)(02 of11)
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Ten years after students won a victory over free speech zones at Tufts, New Mexico State University student Sean Rudolph was arrested for disobeying a police officer who demanded he stop handing out fliers outside of the school’s three free speech zones. Rudolph was a fierce opponent of the school’s restrictive speech policies. He used police tape and chalk to outline the zones and draw attention to the fact that outside of them, speech was not free. Fearful that the zones would threaten his ability to advertise and distribute a newspaper he was starting, Rudolph sued his school. The lawsuit was quickly settled and the free speech zone policy replaced by a new policy that reaffirmed students’ First Amendment rights.
West Virginia University (2002)(03 of11)
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In late 2000, police at West Virginia University (WVU) began prohibiting the distribution of protest literature on campus outside of the school’s two small free speech zones. Alarmed by how confined their speech was on campus, students Michael Bomford and Matthew Poe led a fight against the free speech zones and started the West Virginia University Free Speech Consortium. While Bomford and Poe were members of WVU’s Students for Economic Justice, the group comprised students from across the ideological spectrum. During one of the Consortium’s protests, 18 students dressed in black shrouds laid the First Amendment to rest in a coffin wrapped in newspapers. With the help of FIRE and a lawsuit from the Rutherford Institute, Bomford, Poe, and the Free Speech Consortium managed to pressure the WVU Board of Governors into abandoning the policy.
Citrus College (2003)(04 of11)
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Dismayed by Citrus College’s restrictive free speech zone policies that quarantined expression to three small and remote parts of campus, student Chris Stevens sued his school in an effort to secure his First Amendment rights. In addition to limiting speech to three areas of campus, the California public college required students to notify the school of their intent to use the areas as well as their intended message and restricted the times during which the zones could be used. Students could face suspension, expulsion, or even arrest if they did not comply with the policy. Shortly after Stevens’ lawsuit was filed with the assistance of FIRE Legal Network member Carol Sobel, the Citrus College Board of Trustees unanimously adopted a resolution revoking the policies.
Texas Tech University (2004)(05 of11)
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In a federal lawsuit, students at Texas Tech University challenged the school’s lone free speech zone—a single 20-foot diameter gazebo that was somehow intended to house all the expressive activities of Texas Tech’s 28,000 students. Texas Tech responded by expanding the number of free speech zones on its campus, but that was not enough to save the university from legal defeat. A federal district court judge ruled in Roberts v. Haragan (N.D. Tex. 2004) that Texas Tech’s policy still violated the First Amendment and must be revised to open up more of the campus to free speech. Prior to that decision, a politically diverse group of concerned students organized a petition drive calling for the repeal of the policy, formed a student group called Students for Free Speech, and staged a mock funeral for free speech that included carrying a wooden coffin through campus in a procession.
Seminole Community College (now Seminole State College of Florida) (2005)(06 of11)
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When Eliana Campos was forbidden from passing out literature from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at a table near a Seminole Community College (SCC) café because of administrators’ dislike of the group, Campos turned to FIRE for help. Administrators at the Florida public college responded to her and FIRE’s protests by pointing to a policy that restricted speech to a small, out-of-the-way free speech zone. After Campos and FIRE decided to bring her case to the public, SCC capitulated almost immediately and told Campos she could distribute PETA literature near the café. Furthermore, SCC president James D. Henningsen promised that SCC would create a committee to review and make recommendations for changes to the college’s existing speech policies.
University of Nevada at Reno (2006)(07 of11)
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Working with FIRE and the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, student activists at the University of Nevada at Reno (UNR) protested a university policy that designated only four small or remote areas on UNR’s campus as “‘public forum’ areas.” The policy also explicitly deemed the rest of campus a non-public forum—in other words, off-limits for free speech—and required that students obtain signed approval 48 hours in advance of using the zones. The student activists eventually proposed a new policy that would open the campus to free speech and later, after working closely with UNR administrators, the students managed to get the policy approved. As one activist observed, “A group of students was able to transform UNR’s unconstitutional zoned speech into a new free speech policy that encourages students to express themselves.”
Southwestern College (2009)(08 of11)
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It’s not just students who take on their schools’ free speech zones. At Southwestern College (SWC) in California, four faculty members were suspended and banned from campus for violating an unconstitutional free speech zone policy. The punishments came after students and faculty, protesting various actions taken by the SWC administration, moved outside of the public school’s tiny “free speech patio” to a courtyard location where SWC administrators could hear their protests. After hearing about the case, FIRE came to the disciplined faculty members’ defense, and two days later they were reinstated. However, it took nearly three years’ worth of pressure from students, faculty, FIRE, and the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties before SWC finally revised its restrictive free speech zone policy in September 2011.
Tarrant County College (2009)(09 of11)
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For two consecutive years, students at Tarrant County College (TCC) in Texas were told they could not participate in a national “Students for Concealed Carry on Campus” protest by wearing symbolic empty holsters on campus. The protests, held on college campuses throughout the country, are part of an effort to promote “the legalization of concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses.” The school told the students that any and all protests had to be confined to the campus’ tiny “free speech zones,” such as the approximately 12-foot circle of concrete that was the free speech zone on TCC’s South Campus. With the help of FIRE and the ACLU of Texas, the students filed a federal lawsuit against TCC’s restrictive speech policies in an effort to vindicate their rights. The students ultimately prevailed in their lawsuit, winning the right to wear empty holsters as part of their peaceful protest anywhere on campus—even in classrooms.
University of North Texas (2009)(10 of11)
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Through public pressure and meetings with administrators, students at the University of North Texas (UNT) eliminated the school’s six “free speech areas.” Use of the zones required approval from the dean of students and reservations made “at least two working days in advance.” The students formed the UNT Free Speech Coalition to fight the school’s restrictive policies. After the students consulted FIRE and met with then-UNT President Gretchen M. Bataille, the school revised its speech codes, prompting Bataille to comment to the student newspaper, “Basically, the campus is now a free speech area. We do not restrict free speech. We have done away with the zones.”
University of Cincinnati (2012)(11 of11)
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In one of the latest victories over free speech zones on campus, Chris Morbitzer and his campus chapter of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) challenged a free speech zone policy at the University of Cincinnati (UC)—and won. When Morbitzer and his group sought permission to gather signatures across UC’s campus for a time-sensitive, statewide “right to work” ballot initiative, the school denied their request. In fact, UC told Morbitzer that if they saw anyone from YAL gathering signatures outside of the school’s tiny and restrictive “free speech zone,” they would call campus security and the group members could be arrested. The zone comprised just 0.1% of campus, required registration with the university ten working days in advance and permitted only one speaking event at a time. Morbitzer was dismayed that he might not gather many signatures if he was confined to the free speech zone so he took a bold step: With the help of FIRE and Ohio’s 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, he sued his school. In response, United States District Judge Timothy S. Black held that UC’s policy “[violated] the First Amendment and cannot stand.”
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