A U.S. District Court Judge has dismissed claims that the University violated tenure by not renewing the contract of former University researcher and professor Ivor van Heerden.
Van Heerden, who was also the deputy director of the LSU Hurricane Center, first filed suit against the University in February 2010, claiming he had achieved “de facto tenure” through passage of time in his position of associate professor of research.
Van Heerden claimed the University had no right to end his employment last year because of this alleged de facto tenure.
The partial-summary ruling by Judge James Brady cites University regulations ruling van Heerden could not acquire tenure through passage of time.
LSU Permanent Memorandum 23 covers van Heerden’s former position and states, “Individuals in these ranks do not acquire tenure through the passage of time and may become tenured only by specific individual recommendation through the appropriate channels and approval by the President.”
Van Heerden claims he was given no real reason for his termination and believes it stems from his criticisms of the United States Army Corps of Engineers following Katrina.
“When they terminated my position, they told me it was nothing to do with the economy or my performance, and they didn’t have to supply a reason,” van Heerden told The Daily Reveille on Feb. 11, 2010.
Following the widespread flooding during Hurricane Katrina, van Heerden — then an associate professor and researcher — led a research group investigating the cause of the disastrous flooding in the Crescent City.
The group’s research led van Heerden to believe failures in the Corps’ engineering were responsible for the levee failings, blamed for 90 percent of the flooding and 50 percent of the associated deaths.
Following a U.S. Senate testimony in which van Heerden was critical of the New Orleans levees, which failed during Katrina, van Heerden claims he was reprimanded by former University vice chancellors named as defendants in the suit.
The suit claims the vice chancellors admonished van Heerden for his criticisms and claimed he was jeopardizing University prospects for federal funding.
Van Heerden saw this as an infringement on his academic freedom and free speech, as well as a threat to his job.
Van Heerden’s suit also claims defendants subjected him to a campaign of retaliation and harassment by not allowing him to teach, providing him with only a one-year appointment each year.
Brady has already denied van Heerden a preliminary injunction that would have denied the University the ability to let van Heerden’s contract expire last year.
Van Heerden directed requests for comment to his lawyer on Monday.
Van Heerden’s complaint prompted an investigation by the American Association of University Professors, a national professorial advocacy group, last year.
 
 
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Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]