Former Millsaps professor sues college over firing after post-election email
By Megan West
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JACKSON, Miss. (WAPT) — A longtime Millsaps College professor is suing the school, claiming he was fired for sending an email to his students following the 2024 presidential election. He says the message was meant to show care for them.
Professor James Bowley taught religious studies at Millsaps for 23 years. The day after the election, he canceled his class and emailed his students, writing that they needed time to “mourn a racist and fascist country.”
“I sent an email and said class canceled, and I said the reason is that we need time to mourn a racist and fascist country, and that’s exactly what I think,” Bowley said.
Bowley said hours later, the interim dean called him. He was banned from campus and locked out of his email.
“She said it was for that email,” Bowley said. “I had no idea what it was for, and that was it, I was out.”
The college placed Bowley on leave. He appealed the decision and won, but he says Millsaps ignored that outcome and terminated his employment anyway. A petition circulated on campus calling for his reinstatement.
“As an expert on the rise of fascism and Nazism, which includes racism, I felt I was completely in line to use those two words for what is happening in our country,” Bowley said. “Academic freedom is the basis of all true education. If professors are not allowed to share their ideas, then we don’t have real education.”
Matt Steffey, a law professor, said the university could have responded differently.
“It seems to me that if the university was really concerned about that text, there’s a lot more measured responses they could’ve come up with,” Steffey said. “You’d expect a place that’s proud of its academic reputation to have room for conversations that are a lot tougher than what’s at issue here.”
Millsaps College released a statement acknowledging the lawsuit: “We are aware of the lawsuit. We welcome the opportunity to tell the whole story and believe the facts of this matter will speak clearly during the court process ahead.”
Bowley’s federal lawsuit alleges violations of his First Amendment rights and breach of contract.
“I hope it ends with justice for me,” Bowley said, “whether that’s reinstatement and academic freedom becoming an important principle at Millsaps again.”
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