Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker had an unflattering comparison for administrators at the University of Florida in a 74-page preliminary injunction opinion he issued late last week. The officials were accused of violating the First Amendment by adopting policies aimed at discouraging professors from offering expert testimony against the state of Florida in litigation.

Walker wrote that UF leaders bowed to political pressures much like officials at the University of Hong Kong, which late last year decided to remove a statue commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre victims, apparently for fear of offending Chinese officials.