West Point is violating the First Amendment with a crackdown on professors, lawsuit says
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Updated 9:08 AM PDT, September 22, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is banning opinions by professors in the classroom and some books and courses in a crackdown that violates the First Amendment, a law professor at the military school said in a lawsuit Monday seeking class action status.
Tim Bakken filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court and named the school and its leaders as defendants. He said he wants to protect free speech and the right to academic freedom at an institution where he has flourished despite his public criticisms of the academy and the U.S. military.
Bakken also noted in the lawsuit that he has a contract with a publisher for a book that is critical of some aspects of West Point and doesn’t want to seek approval from the school’s leadership prior to its publication because “it is very likely such approval will be withheld.”
The lawsuit seeks class action status for West Point’s civilian faculty members, believed to be more than 100 individuals, and a court order to stop restrictions on free speech, along with unspecified damages and legal fees.
Bakken’s lawsuit said the school began to scrutinize faculty speech after a January executive order from President Donald Trump to “carefully review the leadership, curriculum and instructors of the United States Service Academies and other defense academic institutions.”
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Professor sues West Point, says the academy is restricting free speech | AP News
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