MSU professor’s lawsuit advances against board members who called on students to label him ‘racist’
A federal court ruled that a professor’s lawsuit alleging that two Michigan State University board members tried to incite students to call him racist can advance.
The lawsuit asserts that two board members encouraged students to call him ‘racist’ and file a complaint against him with an accreditation agency.
A federal court ruled that a professor’s lawsuit alleging that two Michigan State University board members tried to incite students to call him racist can advance.
Jack Lipton, a professor of translational neuroscience and former faculty senate chairman at the university, filed a lawsuit against the school, the board of trustees, and its members last year, following what he says was an attempt by members of the board to encourage students to call him racist to discourage him from criticizing board activity.
Western District of Michigan Court Judge Hala Jarbou’s May 28 decision allowed Lipton’s lawsuit to proceed against board chairman Rema Vassar and board member Dennis Denno. The judge released the other board members as well as the university and board of trustees as defendants.
Lipton’s dispute with Vassar and Denno arose in 2023 when the professor read a faculty resolution calling for Vassar to resign over ethics violations. During the meeting, Vassar’s supporters made loud noises of disapproval, which an independent investigation published in February 2024 corroborated.
Following the meeting, Lipton made comments published in The Detroit News criticizing Vassar’s handling of the situation. The “chaos brought and disrespect shown by her supporters could have been stopped by a single statement from Chair Vassar, yet she elected to let the mob rule the room,” Lipton said.
Vassar and Denno proceeded to label Lipton’s language as “racist,” asserting that the word “mob” has negative racial connotations against black people.
In a confirmed meeting on November 1, 2023, involving Vassar and Denno, Denno instructed students to attack Lipton as racist. Some of his comments were recorded, and were later featured in the investigation.
“The other thing you can do to help us, at least for me, is attack Jack Lipton, the Chair of the Faculty Senate,” Denno said. “I mean this guy called you a mob … call him out, call him a racist.”
In a text message between Denno and an unidentified witness during the investigation, Denno replies to the witness’s question about what he should say to reporters: “Lipton=racist.”
In the following days, multiple groups released statements condemning Lipton for his behavior, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People at MSU on Nov. 2, 2023 and the MSU Black Students’ Alliance on Nov. 4, 2023.
In December 2023, a student filed a complaint against Lipton with the Higher Learning Commission, an accreditation institution, specifically regarding Lipton’s use of the word “mob.” Another witness told investigators that both Vassar and Denno pushed students to file the report.
Michigan State University declined to comment for this article.
