‘We are easy targets’: professor speaks out on quitting over Republican culture wars
During his 18-year tenure at Louisiana’s largest public university, journalism professor Robert Mann courted backlash for speaking out against the state’s top political leaders.
Republicans called for Mann’s firing after he criticized former governor Bobby Jindal amid the state’s 2016 budget crisis. In 2021, Mann drew the ire of Jeff Landry, then state attorney general, for a tweet lambasting Landry’s effort to block a Covid-19 vaccine mandate at Louisiana State University.
Now, the professor is tired of battling Louisiana politicians.
Mann announced his resignation after Landry, a rightwing disciple of Donald Trump, won a multi-party primary in Louisiana on Saturday.
Landry is preparing to be sworn in as governor in January after capturing a majority of the votes cast in Saturday’s race. Mann, a journalism professor at Louisiana State University’s Manship School of Mass Communication, plans to step down at the end of the academic year.
“I have this morning informed my dean that I will step down from my position at LSU at the end of the school year,” Mann posted on X. “My reasons are simple: the person who will be governor in January has already asked LSU to fire me. And I have no confidence the leadership of this university would protect the Manship School against a governor’s efforts to punish me and other faculty members.”
Mann’s resignation comes amid the GOP’s fight to seize control of American colleges and universities. Rightwing lawmakers this year introduced more than 50 bills across 23 states aimed at eliminating faculty tenure, a longstanding job protection policy to protect academics from outside interference. Florida,Texas,Tennesseeand North Dakota this year enacted legislation that would unravel Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts at state colleges and universities, making it more difficult for higher education to protect marginalized students. Earlier this week, Wisconsin Republicans used Universities of Wisconsin employee salaries as a bargaining chip against the school’s fight to protect DEI spending.
Professors like Mann are unwilling to remain on the frontlines of the GOP’s battle on higher education – especially without the backing of university leadership.
In his previous spars with Jindal, Mann told the Guardian he received meaningful support from Stuart Bell, LSU’s former provost, now president of the University of Alabama.
“When Jindal’s cronies came after me, Stuart Bell called me,” Mann told the Guardian. “He said, nothing will happen to you, we have your back, we’re going to take care of this.”
Mann had a tense relationship with F King Alexander, LSU’s former administrator. Even Alexander threw his support behind Mann.
“I was not always his biggest fan, but when people came after me, King called me personally to say, ‘We don’t always agree, but the one thing we do agree on is academic freedom and free speech on campus,’’” Mann said.
LSU’s resolve to protect Mann appeared to dissolve in 2021, when he sparred with Landry over the attorney general’s opposition to the coronavirus vaccine and masking requirements.
Landry, who sued the Biden administration after it mandated Covid vaccinations for federal contractors, had been opposed to stricter vaccine requirements at LSU. And he sent a representative to a university meeting where vaccines were discussed.