Following up on my previous posts (links below): FIRE, University of Hawai‘i Dean Sues Law Professor Who Criticized Diversity Event (Feb. 24, 2025):
The twist: The criticisms, from Professor Kenneth Lawson, Co-Director of the Hawai'i Innocence Project, were made 2 years ago. Why the lawsuit now? Could it be because Lawson went public last month with claims UH doctored his course materials?
When the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa planned a Black History Month event in February 2023 that lacked any black facilitators, law professor Kenneth Lawson publicly challenged a dean about it at a faculty meeting. Nearly two years later, and shortly after clashing with administrators over their decision to doctor one of his class presentations, Lawson suddenly must defend himself against a defamation lawsuit over his remarks — one filed by that same dean.
On Feb. 20, Lawson’s legal team filed an anti-SLAPP motion to dismiss the dean’s lawsuit, in which she alleged that Lawson’s heated arguments with her concerning the Black History Month event, as well as Lawson’s call to boycott the event, were defamatory. Lawson’s legal team argues that the defamation suit is “an attempt to chill and silence Professor Lawson’s constitutionally protected speech.” And the fact that it came fast on the heels of a curriculum dispute raises further questions of retaliation. …
We hope this motion will give UH the sharp reminder it needs that faculty members have a right to speak on matters of public concern. Faculty members also have the right to determine how to approach their courses. And faculty members shouldn’t have to fear retaliation — in the university setting or in the court of law — for exercising their First Amendment rights.
New York Times, Hawaii Man Wrongfully Convicted of Murder Is Freed After 30 Years (Feb. 24, 2025):
Gordon Cordeiro, 51, who was serving a life sentence for a 1994 murder on Maui, was released on Friday after DNA evidence was presented in his case. …
Kenneth Lawson, a director of the Hawaii Innocence Project, which took up Mr. Cordeiro’s case, choked up in an interview as he described sitting beside Mr. Cordeiro in the courtroom on Friday. “There was relief, there was joy,” he said.
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- FIRE Blasts University Of Hawaii For Censoring Law Prof's PowerPoint Presentation (Feb. 4, 2025)
- Professor Sues Hawaii Law School After Campus Ban For Creating Hostile Work Environment Following Boycott Of Black History Month Event With No Black Speakers (Aug. 24, 2023)
- A Cincinnati Lawyer's Rise, Fall, and Redemption … in Hawaii (Thanks to a Tax Prof) (May 12, 2013)
