Previous Coverage
Knight News first broke the story on June 4, 2020.
During a virtual forum on June 4, students asked UCF president Alexander Cartwright how he planned to fire Charles Negy over the Twitter posts students considered “dishonorable comments toward the black community.”
Cartwright said there are systems the university would use to investigate Negy.
“When you look at a faculty member’s behavior, you need to consider whether that behavior is personal and whether it translates into their behavior in the classroom,” he said. “We will look at any such behavior and we will, after careful deliberation, come to a decision.”
Knight News spoke to a first amendment lawyer from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education — a nonprofit group that focuses on protecting free speech rights on college campuses around the country — who weighed-in on the matter.
On June 7, Negy told Knight News he would be finding a new nonprofit to donate to royalties from his textbook sales because the university’s nonprofit would no longer accept them.
As UCF investigated Negy, two students also began taking action and asked for the community to weigh in before they meet with the office investigating the professor.
UCF added new psychology course sections for the summer term later that month so no student would be required to take him as a professor.
“The one thing I am confident that we can do, before we understand whether more is possible, is to make sure nobody has to take his class,” Johnson said during the protest-turned-discussion at UCF’s main campus on June 14. “[We can make sure] there are good alternatives.”
A few weeks later, the UCF Student Government Senate passed a resolution acknowledging Negy’s right to free speech under the First Amendment but said his comments and views would be supported if not condemned, and his employment was continued at UCF.
UCF Student Body President Sabrina La Rosa said the executive branch supports the actions of the legislative branch.
In July, members of UCF’s football team called on UCF’s leadership to take action to fire the associate psychology professor.
On Jan. 13, Knight News learned that UCF intended to fire Negy after months of investigations alleged he created a “hostile” classroom environment, deterred students from filing complaints, failed to report that a student said she had been sexually assaulted by one of his teaching assistants and provided false information during the investigation.
Knight News obtained the letter Negy sent to UCF in response to his proposed termination on Jan. 19, in which he said UCF has gone to great lengths over the last seven months to try and find legitimate grounds for his termination.
Click back to read the OIE report.
This is a developing story and will be updated with new information.
Check back with Knight News for updates.
