Florence Roisman - Controversy

Controversy

Roisman has been at the center of several high profile controversies at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. In December 2003 she complained about the placement of a 12 foot Christmas tree in the school's atrium "because it is a symbol of one religion, Christianity". Roisman, who is Jewish, believed the display was "of doubtful constitutionality in a state-supported law school," but her principal objection was one of policy, not law. The removal garnered the attention of several regional media outlets and drew the ire of Fox News journalists Bill O'Reilly and John Gibson. The episode was featured in John Gibson's 2005 book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought.

In the spring of 2004 she was reported to have used university resources to email law students and faculty with a message opposing the confirmation of Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Some observers charged her actions were a violation of federal election law and university policy.

In 2005 Roisman was accused of opposing the tenure of Prof. William Bradford because of some of his conservative views. The feud became a national one when Fox News and Front Page magazine, among others, continually reported on the controversy. Bradford claimed that his support of the Iraq War and his refusal to sign a letter in defense of Ward Churchill that was circulated by Roisman were contributing factors and that Roisman "engineered" the vote against him. Roisman has publicly denied most of Bradford's claims.

School administrators initially claimed that Bradford never actually applied for tenure and thus that the faculty thus had never voted on whether or not his scholarly and pedagogical record warranted receiving it. Instead the law faculty had simply held a straw poll to determine the likelihood that he would receive tenure: the vote was 10-5 in favor, which meant that five professors believed that Mr. Bradford had a low probability of doing so. The straw poll was not binding and did not involve the entire faculty. However, on Thursday August 25, Indiana State Representative Jeffrey Thompson spoke with Dr. Charles R. Bantz, Chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, during which Chancellor Bantz reportedly admitted that Bradford was eligible for tenure, had correctly applied for tenure, and that he had an outstanding case for tenure. In early September 2005, Thompson stated that Chancellor Bantz had ordered IU-Indy Law School to vote on tenure for Bradford.

Bradford and his supporters cited the fact that the five professors who voted in the Straw Poll not only voted against Bradford for any future tenure but voted against retaining him even on an untenured basis (i.e., that he be fired immediately) without providing any substantive explanation. They also questioned why the five professors voted against him - in a vote taken in November 2004, the law faculty voted unanimously (19-0) that Bradford should be promoted from assistant professor to associate professor. Supporters also noted letters of support for Bradford from Harvard, the University of Miami, and the University of Arizona had asserted that Bradford should easily be granted tenure.,

The controversy spilled over to a student-run weblog in which Bradford's supporters castigated Roisman for her alleged hypocrisy and unethical behavior while others attacked Bradford over apparent inconsistencies in his allegations. Roisman refused to make any public comment about the matter. It was later revealed that Bradford had assumed names and posted comments in support of himself on the blog; later allegations suggested that he had falsified his military record. Bradford admitted to the impersonations but denied falsifying his record. Bradford resigned in December 2005.