University of Arizona Fires Professor Who Protected His Children From Trans Agenda

Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit against the University of Arizona on behalf of former ethics Professor Daniel Grossenbach, who was fired for publicly advocating for parental rights at local school board meetings where his children attend school. The public school district is not affiliated with the university.

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After the Christian professor advocated for reversing public school policies that promoted teachers secretly surveying children about their gender and sexuality, the university unlawfully terminated him based on anonymous complaints about his religious speech and advocacy. Liberty Counsel represents Grossenbach stating the university discriminated and retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment rights to speak out according to his religious beliefs and to protect his children.

Liberty Counsel is seeking a permanent injunction that declares the university’s discriminatory actions illegal and unconstitutional for violating his constitutional rights of free speech, religious exercise, equal protection, as well as his religious protections under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lawsuit also requests that the court order the university to reinstate Grossenbach to his prior position, restore his benefits, and award damages.

The lawsuit also implicates the Arizona Board of Regents and its Chair, Douglas Goodyear, as well as University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella.

In 2023, the Catalina Foothills School District (CFSD) became subject to public controversy over its policies that promoted teachers to secretly solicit sexual information from children, secretly push radical gender ideologies upon those students, and intentionally keep that information from parents. Some of CFSD’s secret surveys went as far as asking minor children about their sexual preferences and desires. As parents began to speak out, the lawsuit explains that an email surfaced from a middle school principal containing a list of gender-confused students asking teachers to use pronouns inconsistent with their biological sex and conceal it from parents. Yet, “obstinate” school board members refused to discuss the issue with parents.

Grossenbach, who saw the policies as a “gross intrusion” upon parental rights, was compelled by his religious beliefs to form SaveCFSD, a nonprofit organization focused on educating parents about school board policies and fundamental rights. Grossenbach stands for the principle that parents have the right to direct the upbringing of their children, and believes that departing from God’s natural male and female design of human sexuality is a sin. In 2023, Grossenbach spoke several times at school board meetings, which was attended by hundreds of concerned parents, and delivered two-to-three-minute, pre-written speeches. He routinely included a disclaimer that he spoke for himself and not for his employer, and expressed without hate, slander, or violence how the district’s policies violated parental rights.

The lawsuit then states that “anti-religious zealots turned digital critics” coordinated over social media to silence Grossenbach and SaveCFSD by getting him fired from his job. Subsequently, numerous anonymous complaints were filed against him with the University of Arizona encouraging the university to discipline him for speaking out about his rights and beliefs.

In November 2023, the university informed him that it would not be renewing his part-time teaching contract for the following Spring ethics courses citing it had received funding for a full-time faculty member. However, the university never hired a full-time professor nor offered his ethics course the following Spring. In fact, the university posted advertisements soliciting resumes for additional part-time professors meeting Grossenbach’s exact skills and experience to teach similar courses he had been teaching for years.

Despite Grossenbach’s good performance and positive reputation, the lawsuit alleges that the University of Arizona terminated him after discovering that he was an outspoken Christian advocating for change within his local school board to protect his family. In addition, the university stalled Grossenbach for 239 days in disclosing any public records regarding his termination, which violated Arizona state law, the lawsuit stated.

“[The University of Arizona’s] actions have inflicted irreparable damage to Professor Grossenbach’s professional career and reputation, ended his academic pursuit of a doctorate degree, decreased his earning potential, and reduced his income,” wrote Liberty Counsel. “Further, when Professor Grossenbach was terminated, he lost a potential textbook publishing deal, furthering his financial loss and reputational damage.”

Terminating an adjunct professor based on an “anonymous censorship campaign” for protected speech and religious exercise amounts to unconstitutional discrimination based on content and viewpoint, concluded Liberty Counsel.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Professors at public universities and colleges do not shed their constitutional rights to free speech and religious exercise when they work for a university. Professor Daniel Grossenbach engaged in constitutionally protected speech, religious expression, and religious exercise and was speaking on matters of public concern regarding his faith, morality, and the community. The University of Arizona cannot fire a professor for his protected speech. Viewpoint discrimination is unlawful and violates the First Amendment and religious discrimination violates Title VII.”

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