Emory law professor Paul Zwier (Courtesy photo)

An Emory University law professor banished from campus since 2018 for his use of a racial epithet that sparked student protests is back at work after Emory's law school dean accepted a faculty hearing committee recommendation to lift his suspension.

Law school Dean Mary Anne Bobinski reinstated longtime law professor Paul Zwier to his tenured post but warned in a March 4 letter to the law school community that, while the use of particular controversial words aren't banned on campus, there are limits to academic protections.

Bobinski said in the letter that, in keeping with the faculty committee's confidential findings of fact and recommendations, "A faculty member's use of racially-charged, derogatory language—such as the explicit N-word—with students, and without a clear pedagogical objective, may lead to censure and other forms of disciplinary action."

She said that, in keeping with the committee's findings, "The university's and the law school's commitments to the foundational principles of academic freedom mean that faculty members and students may consider and discuss controversial matters in their teaching and scholarship, even though exposure to these matters, or to specific associated words or terms, may cause distress."

Zwier has already resumed his research and administrative duties at the law school and will begin teaching elective courses to second- and third-year law students this fall, said his counsel, Lee Parks of Atlanta's Parks Chesin & Walbert. Parks' partner, Travis Foust, served as co-counsel in the case.

Parks said Zwier can return to teaching introductory law classes in the fall of 2021.

"What happened to Paul struck at the very core of tenure," Parks said. "His victory vindicates the principles of academic freedom which make America's universities the best in the world."

"We were overwhelmed by the support Professor Zwier received from the legal community, both nationally and locally," Parks added. "The number of judges, lawyers, professors and students willing to advocate on Paul's behalf speaks volumes as to his stature in the legal community."

In her letter, Bobinski acknowledged "conflicting views within our community about the appropriate balance between Emory's core values relating to academic freedom, equity and inclusion."

Bobinski also said that she and Zwier are barred from releasing the contents of the faculty report.

Zwier was placed on administrative leave and banished from the law school campus in November 2018 after a student said Zwier used the uncensored phrase "n—-r lover" during a personal conversation to describe insults Zwier said he faced as a teenage because of his friendship with black students.

When he was suspended, Zwier was already the target of student protests for uttering the epithet in a first-year torts class while referencing a 1967 civil assault case and then calling on a black student to discuss it. Zwier later apologized, saying that in using the n-word, he intended to suggest the court record was sanitized and that the plaintiff was actually called the inflammatory epithet.

The Faculty Hearing Committee made the recommendation to reinstate Zwier in January, following a daylong private hearing last October, according to Zwier's counsel. The hearing took place four months after James Hughes Jr., the law school's former interim dean, recommended that Zwier be stripped of tenure and terminated. Hughes made the recommendation shortly before he stepped down as dean. 

Emory was represented at the hearing by King & Spalding senior partner Michael Johnston and Emory's deputy general counsel Amy Adelman. 

Zwier said he was grateful for the thoughtful deliberations undertaken by Bobinski and the hearing committee to return him to teaching, which he called "my higher calling." 

"I am committed and look forward to returning to the classroom and working with the university, Dean Bobinski, the law school faculty, and the student body to bring this matter to closure for our entire university in a thoughtful and healing way," he said. 

Parks said the faculty hearing committee determined Emory failed to show it had adequate cause to revoke Zwier's tenure or that his use of the epithets equated to "moral delinquency" or called his competency as a teacher into question. 

Parks said the committee made a critical finding that the premise of academic freedom was incompatible with Emory's support of a ban on the use of any word, including the "n-word," and the resulting limitations on the ability to teach. 

The committee report also noted that revoking Zwier's tenure could ultimately harm the university's reputation.

Parks said the faculty committee rejected the university's argument that Zwier's use of the racial slurs was evidence of his incompetence.

Instead, the hearing committee adopted the position of the American Association of University Professors. Incompetency that results in the loss or denial of tenure is based on "repeated instances of being unable to do your job, not an editorial conclusion on how you do your job," Parks said.

Last April, the AAUP and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education wrote letters to the law school demanding that Zwier be reinstated and warned that any attempt to fire him for using an epithet in a classroom context would violate principles of academic free speech. 

On Wednesday William Carney, a law professor emeritus who taught at Emory's law school for 34 years, criticized Emory for taking "painfully long to finally do mostly the right thing."

Carney wrote to the AAUP last year, calling on the academic organization to censure Emory and place it on academic probation for its treatment of Zwier.