quote:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Tulane University researcher resigned Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who had warned that her advocacy and research exposing the Louisiana petrochemical industry’s health impacts and racial disparities in hiring had triggered blowback from donors and elected officials.

In her resignation letter, Kimberly Terrell accused the university of sacrificing academic freedom to appease Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Terrell, the director of community engagement at Tulane’s environmental law clinic claimed the facility had been “placed under a complete gag order” that barred her from making public statements about her research.

quote:
According to emails obtained by The Associated Press, university leaders wrote that the work of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic had become an “impediment” to a Tulane redevelopment project reliant on support from state and private funders. The clinic represents communities fighting the petrochemical industry in court.

“I cannot remain silent as this university sacrifices academic integrity for political appeasement and pet projects,” Terrell wrote. “Our work is too important, and the stakes are too high, to sit back and watch special interests replace scholarship with censorship.”

Tulane spokesperson Michael Strecker said in an emailed statement that the university “is fully committed to academic freedom” and declined to comment on “personnel matters.”

quote:
Many of the clinic’s clients are located along the heavily industrialized 85-mile (137-kilometer) stretch of the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge commonly referred to by environmental groups as “Cancer Alley.”

In a May 4 email to clinic staff, Marcilynn Burke, dean of Tulane’s law school, wrote that Tulane University President Michael Fitts worried the clinic’s work threatened to tank support for the university’s long-sought downtown expansion in collaboration with state agencies.

“Elected officials and major donors have cited the clinic as an impediment to them lending their support to the university generally and this project specifically,” Burke wrote.

quote:
In her resignation letter, Terrell wrote that she had been told the governor “threatened to veto” any state funding for the expansion project unless Tulane’s president “did something” about the clinic.

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In April, Terrell published research showing that Black people received significantly less jobs in the petrochemical industry than white people in Louisiana despite having similar levels of training and education.

Media coverage of the April study coincided with a visit by Tulane leaders to Louisiana’s capitol to lobby elected officials in support of university projects. Shortly after, Burke, the law school’s dean, told clinic staff in an email that “all external communications” such as social media posts and media interviews “must be pre-approved by me.”

quote:
In a May 21 audio recording obtained by The AP, Provost Robin Forman said that when Tulane leadership met with elected officials on April 16, they were pressed as to why ”‘Tulane has taken a stand on the chemical industry as harming communities’,” and this “left people feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable.”

Burke said in an email that university leaders had misgivings about a press release in which a community activist represented by Terrell’s clinic is quoted as saying that petrochemical companies “prioritize profit over people.”

LINK

Here’s the thing, as stated in the article, the State of Louisiana (taxpayers) fund the Tulane Eviro Law Clinic, which yes, then turns around of pro-bono sues current and prospective businesses in the state. That, in and of itself, is frustrating enough to me, so doesn’t seem like a far reach that if they want to continue receiving state (taxpayer) funds, probably not the best look to spend full time banging on and trashing an industry that employs tens of thousands of Louisiana residents.

Also, I do want to point out, that while based on his background I do suspect the author of this piece is left of center and more likely on the anti-O&G/Petrochem side, he did a good job of not letting personal opinion bleed all over the article. I respect that.