Texas professor sues university after being punished for saying music theory isn't racist

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A professor at the University of North Texas is suing the school for punishing him after he pushed back against the idea that music theory is a function of White supremacy.

The lawsuit, first reported by Campus Reform, claims that the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of professor Timothy Jackson were violated by the school when they removed him from the academic journal he co-founded after he published several articles that students and faculty deemed "racist."

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The university took action against Jackson after he held a symposium that promoted differing opinions on a speech by Hunter College of the City University of New York professor Philip Ewell entitled "Music Theory’s White Racial Frame."

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In the speech, and in a paper Ewell published after the speech, Ewell complained that music theory is "White" and argued that as a Black man he feels uncomfortable that the vast majority of music theory professors are White.

Ewell also criticized the late Jewish music theorist, composer, and teacher Heinrich Schenker as "an ardent racist and German nationalist" and alleged that "our white racial frame seeks to shield Schenker from unwanted criticism."

After Ewell’s paper was published, Jackson planned to host a symposium with the Journal of Schenkerian Studies that he co-founded at UNT and called on members of the Society for Music to write papers responding to the paper. Those submissions were published in July 2020 and contained different views both supporting and opposing Ewell’s speech.

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Jackson’s letter disagreed with Ewell on several points while defending Schenker as a victim of antisemitism by pointing out that the composer had been persecuted in Nazi Germany for being Jewish.

Jackson also dismissed the idea that the music theory field is racist and suggested African American women and men don’t typically "grow up in homes where classical music is profoundly valued, and therefore they lack the necessary background."

Following the publishing of the symposium, supporters of Ewell began calling on UNT to fire Jackson, including at least 18 UNT faculty members and several grad students.

Jackson’s lawsuit states that on July 31, 2020, the school released a statement that it had launched a formal investigation into the Journal and UNT Press.

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Jackson was then told by UNT Provost Jennifer Cowley to submit a plan on how to address a report from an ad hoc panel outlining problems with his actions but a week before the deadline he was given he learned that he had been removed from the journal and that university funding for the journal and Center for Schenkerian Studies was being halted.

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Jackson’s lawsuit asks for several demands for judgment including a declaration from the school that his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated, a request to prevent the Board of Regents from taking action against him, and a request for damages. 

"Timothy Jackson’s goals have been consistent from the beginning, and that is to express academic freedom without fear of retaliation from those who disagree," Michael Thad Allen, Jackson’s lead attorney, told Campus Reform. "UNT has failed to protect these rights and has allowed this situation to progress, forcing Jackson to file this suit." 

In a statement to Fox News, the University of North Texas said that federal court is "not the place" for "baseless allegations."

"The defendants have formally notified the court of appeals that we are appealing the district court’s decision to deny our motion to dismiss," a spokesperson for the school said. "Dr. Jackson’s faculty colleagues have not harmed him in any way, and federal court is not the place to try the plaintiff’s baseless allegations against them. Further, neither the Board of Regents nor the university have taken any adverse action against Dr. Jackson."

The statement added, "We will raise these points to the federal appeals court. Meanwhile, we have filed a motion asking the trial judge to stop all activity in the district court until the parties receive a ruling on the appeal."