Richard Lowery, associate professor of finance, sued multiple UT officials, claiming they infringed on his First Amendment rights and threatened him for his publically conservative views, according to court documents filed Feb. 8.

Lowery’s attorneys also filed a motion for preliminary injunction Feb. 17 for the court to stop University officials’ “threats” against Lowery while the suit is ongoing.

“Due to defendants’ threats to punish him for his … criticism of the UT Administration, Professor Lowery does not believe he is free to continue expressing his views openly,” the injunction stated. “Lowery is not free to speak on campus affairs on terms equal to his peers.”

According to the Institute for Freedom of Speech, the organization representing Lowery, he is suing three administrators in the McCombs School of Business in their official capacity: Lillian Mills, dean of the McCombs School of Business; Ethan Burris, senior associate dean for academic affairs, and Sheridan Titman, finance department chair.

The three defendants declined to comment.

“For us, it’s not about money,” Del Kolde, the senior attorney on the case said. “We want the threats to stop, so (Lowery) can speak what he wants to speak.”

The case claims the University threatened Lowery’s “job, pay, institute affiliation, research opportunities (and) academic freedom,” after repeated public critique of the University’s senior officials, including University President Jay Hartzell, and their actions.

According to the suit, Lowery began self-censoring, “throttling his social media use and altering the topics of his academic speeches.” Lowery referred to DEI policies as “vile, racist policies” in an op-ed last June and previously spoke out on social media and publications like The Hill, The Washington Post and more.

“The takeover of universities by critical race theorists — often through the mechanism of ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ offices — is effectively complete, and these administrators are driven by a deeply racist philosophy where earned success by someone not in a designated ‘marginalized group’ in itself is evidence of being an oppressor,” Lowery said in the op-ed.

Although Lowery is tenured, officials threatened his position with the Salem Center for Policy if he didn’t “tone it down,” Kolde said. Lowery is afforded a $20,000 annual stipend and research opportunities through his position at the center.

The lawsuit asks the courts to forbid University officials from further threatening Lowery for “his protected speech,” and declare the University’s actions as unconstitutional and provide an award for attorney fees and costs.

“The (UT) community should want someone like Richard Lowery to be part of the conversation,” Kolde said. “It is not beneficial to learning or to dialogue to have anybody be afraid to express their viewpoints. We’re bringing this case so that people like him can be part of the conversation.”

Lowery previously filed a civil case against Texas A&M University for discriminatory hiring practices, claiming that their Accountability, Climate, Equity and Scholarship Faculty Fellows program discriminates against white and Asian men. 

Currently, the new case remains open with no official court date set.

“We’re in it for the long haul because we’re bringing this case on principle,” Kolde said. “Even if we lose at the district court level, we’re likely to seriously consider (sticking) with the case for as long as it takes.”