FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Former Florida Atlantic University Professor James Tracy, who gained notoriety after claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, has filed a lawsuit to try to get his job back.
Tracy, fired from his tenured position in January, is suing university administrators, members of the Board of Trustees, and faculty union representatives for reinstatement and monetary damages. Tracy alleges the firing violated his rights to free speech and due process as well as the university’s principles of academic freedom.
Although Tracy angered FAU officials with his controversial comments, he was fired for failing to fill out paperwork. The university said he hadn’t submitted forms detailing his outside activities and possible conflicts of interest. University officials became concerned that his private “Memory Hole” blog might be interfering with his work at the university. The lawsuit says the union had initially advised him his work on the blog was constitutionally protected, and he didn’t need to fill out the forms.
FAU spokeswoman Lisa Metcalf said the university did not comment on pending litigation.
The lawsuit claims the United Faculty of Florida and Florida Education Association failed to properly represent the professor and “conspired with and aided the university’s administrators in violating Tracy’s constitutional and contractual rights.” Union officials “attempted to pressure and coerce Professor Tracy into accepting a meager severance package” offered by FAU, the complaint says.
Bob Zoeller, president of the FAU chapter of United Faculty of Florida, declined to comment.
“Both Florida Atlantic University administrators and representatives from FAU’s faculty union say they are committed to protecting constitutional rights, as well as principles of academic freedom, but their actions speak loud and clear . ,” said Louis Leo IV, of the Florida Civil Rights Coalition, and Medgebow Law, which represents Tracy. “Tenure, free speech, due process and academic freedom are under attack.”
Tracy first attracted national attention shortly after the Sandy Hook massacre in December 2012, when he wrote on a blog that the federal government may have staged the tragedy to drum up support for gun control.
FAU reprimanded Tracy, saying he failed to make it clear his views didn’t represent those of the university. Tracy in late 2013 agreed to stop mentioning his affiliation with FAU on his blog in exchange for the reprimand being rescinded. But Tracy said the reprimand letter was never removed from his personnel file.
Although he stopped mentioning his employer, he continued writing blog posts that raised conspiracy theories about nearly every national tragedy, including the Boston Marathon bombings, the Charleston, S.C., church massacre and the attack at San Bernardino, Calif.
His theories received renewed attention in December on the third anniversary of Sandy Hook, after Lenny and Veronique Pozner, whose son, Noah, died at Sandy Hook, accused him of harassment.
When the parents took steps to prevent their son’s photo from being used on conspiracy websites, Tracy sent them a certified letter demanding proof they were Noah’s parents and that their son ever lived, the family wrote in a Sun Sentinel opinion piece.
Tracy fired back online, calling the Pozners “alleged parents” and accusing them of cashing in on Sandy Hook and fabricating their son’s death certificate.
“If Noah actually died, there would have been no reason to fake it,” Tracy wrote.
Tracy’s FAU email inbox became flooded with comments from around the country, some of which called him obscene and disparaging names.
“You are bringing shame to the profession. Resign,” one emailer wrote.
“You conspiracy types make me wanna puke,” another wrote. “Stop harassing the families of the Sandy Hook shooting. These people lost their children for God sakes.”
But Tracy also received some support.
“I know they are slandering you in the media right now. Please keep your head up,” one emailer wrote. “Decades down the road your children will have the honor of knowing their father fought a noble and tough fight. You are an American hero.”
Tracy continued to express doubts about the tragedy in his lawsuit, calling it an “alleged mass casualty event” and raising concerns about “inconsistencies and anomalies in the official findings and reports, which were ignored by the national media.”
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