Conservative Eastman sets the stage to sue CU
BOULDER» Visiting scholar John Eastman laid the groundwork to sue the University of Colorado on Thursday, filing a legal claim alleging defamation and violation of his First Amendment rights over school leaders’ response to his role in efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election.
Eastman, the visiting scholar of conservative thought and policy at CU’s Bruce D. Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization, spoke at President Donald Trump’s rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 that preceded the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
The six-page notice of claim, a
necessary precursor to suing the university, also alleges breach of contract, and indicates Eastman will seek at least $1.9 million damages, including nearly $20,000 that remains in a CU research account and $1.85 million in future salary he alleges he can’t earn because of “reputational harm.”
The notice alleges CU officials “have denied (Eastman) the ability to complete his duties under the contract. They have committed libel and slander against him and have irreparably damaged his career and his professional standing.”
“I am taking this step,” Eastman said at a news conference, “because my role in this whole controversy puts me in a position to make a stand for other professors who may, as a result of what has been done to me, be cowed from their own exercise of First Amendment rights, choosing selfcensorship instead of the gauntlet of hate and vitriol to which I have been subject.”
Randy Corporon, Eastman’s attorney, said CU took “remarkable steps to cancel the voice of my client.”
But Andrew Sorensen, a CU spokesman, said the Boulder campus’ decisions to strip Eastman of his public duties and cancel his classes were made in accordance with university policies concerning freedom of expression and academic freedom.
“Consistent with First Amendment principles and the university’s policies, Professor Eastman is able to speak on any subject he wishes and pursue his scholarship,” Sorensen said. “The university has taken no action that would deter a reasonable person from engaging in free speech.”
Sorensen argued that Eastman continues to express his views in writing, on television and at inperson events.
“The university, however, is not constitutionally obligated to have him serve in a representational capacity when he exercises his right to free speech,” Sorensen said. “Professor Eastman was not suspended. The College of Arts & Sciences canceled his spring courses for low enrollment in accordance with its policies. Provost (Russell) Moore appropriately relieved him from performing outreach functions on behalf of the Benson Center, because his continued performance of those duties would likely cause disruption and harm to the center.”
Courses canceled
At the news conference in Boulder on Thursday, Eastman said CU’s claims that his courses were canceled because of low enrollment were a lie.
He alleged in his notice of claim that he also was barred from teaching in the law school during the fall, after the publication of an essay he wrote in Newsweek questioning whether then-candidate Kamala Harris was eligible to serve as vice president because her parents were born outside the United States.
A Jan. 10 email to CU Law School students, faculty members and staffers from Dean S. James Anaya — provided to the press by Eastman — noted that “the law school’s leadership last summer wisely rejected an offer for Eastman to teach at the law school, and he has not taught nor will he teach at Colorado Law — not for the content of his political views, but for his evident lack of qualification.”
Eastman, Corporon and Chuck Bonniwell — a Colorado talk-radio host whose program was canceled in 2019 after he wished for “a nice school shooting” to interrupt Trump’s first impeachment — spoke at the news conference.
About 20 people, many waving American flags and wearing American flag-clad apparel, attended in support of Eastman. Some driving by the assembly honked, eliciting cheers from the supporters, while others hurled expletives at the crowd, many of whom carried signs promoting free speech.
Jane Meagher, president of the Boulder Republican Women, attended the news conference to support Eastman.
“It’s a crime this community was denied the opportunity to learn,” Meagher said. “They never had to agree with him, but the fact that they silenced him is a travesty.”
Eastman had been a law professor at Chapman University in California until agreeing to resign in the days after the insurrection.
Troubled tenure
Selected as CU’s visiting conservative scholar for the 2020-21 academic year, Eastman has been in hot water with campus administration throughout his time in Boulder.
First, Chancellor Phil DiStefano issued a statement in August condemning Eastman’s essay about Harris.
In January the university stripped Eastman of his public functions and, citing low enrollment, canceled his spring courses after the scholar’s involvement in Trump’s push to overturn the results of November’s election.
In addition to his role speaking at the Trump rally on Jan. 6, The New York Times reported Eastman was in the Oval Office with Trump the day before the Capitol riot, arguing to Vice President Mike Pence that Pence had the power to block certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Eastman also represented Trump in a lawsuit filed by Texas and 17 other states asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block four key states from finalizing Biden’s electoral victory. The court rejected the lawsuit.
CU’s leaders have walked a tightrope in handling Eastman and the outcry from the university community after the visiting professor’s appearance at the Trump rally. University leadership accused him of spreading “repugnant” and baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud — but stopped short of firing him.
In a Jan. 11 memo to CU President Mark Kennedy explaining his decision-making surrounding Eastman, DiStefano concluded, “In my statement (after the insurrection), I observed that Professor Eastman has contributed nothing of value to the University of Colorado Boulder or the Benson Center. I stand by that statement and look forward to the day when he leaves campus.”
The university said Eastman was allowed to “perform scholarship” for the remainder of his appointment as the Benson Center’s visiting scholar of conservative thought and policy, for which he is being paid a privately funded $185,000 salary.