NYU Professor Sues Fellow Faculty Members Over Mask Controversy

WEST VILLAGE, NY — A media professor at New York University sued his fellow department faculty on Monday after they sent a letter to the administration relating to his comments about wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus.

Mark Crispin Miller, a professor of media, culture, and communication at NYU's Steinhardt school, is suing 19 professors for "numerous misstatements of 'fact' maliciously intended to portray plaintiff in a negative light; to diminish, if not destroy, his professional reputation and standing."

The lawsuit filed in the Manhattan Supreme Court demands $750,00 in damages from the NYU teachers.

NYU did not immediately respond to Patch's request for comment.

The situation started in September when an undergraduate student tweeted about Miller pushing his students to read studies about the effectiveness of masks defending against the transmission of COVID-19.

@nyuniversity: an MCC tenured professor spent an entire class period telling students that wearing masks doesn’t prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that hydroxychloroquine trials were made to fail so more people would be given the vaccine and have their DNA changed. thread 1/
— Julia Jackson (@julia_jacks) September 21, 2020

The NYU student added in a second tweet, "An MCC tenured professor spent an entire class period telling students that wearing masks doesn't prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that hydroxychloroquine trials were made to fail so more people would be given the vaccine and have their DNA changed," Jackson wrote.

Shortly after the tweet was posted, Rodney Benson, the chair of Miller's media department at NYU commented on the tweet, "Julia thank you for reporting this issue. We as a department have made this a priority and are discussing next steps."

The comment was followed with an email from NYU officials to Miller's class reminding everybody to wear masks.

Miller wrote the following on his website about the allegations from the student: "I do believe they should be thinking for themselves...It's one thing to expect the students to obey their institution's rules, but quite another thing to urge them not to think about it. That's my intellectual and civic obligation."

Miller wears masks within the NYU campus and buildings as to align with the school's policy, but does not wear a face covering walking around the streets, according to the NY Post.

A month later, his NYU colleagues from the media department sent a letter to the administration asking the school to complete a review of Miller's "intimidating tactics, abuses of authority, aggression and microaggressions, and explicit hate speech, none of which are excused by academic freedom and First Amendment protections."

The lawsuit calls the piece of writing from his colleagues a "scurrilous and maliciously intended letter" that they used to defame Miller.

In the time between the tweet from the undergraduate student and the letter from the faculty, Miller launched an online petition to defend his "academic freedom" that has gained over 18,000 signatures.

Other than Miller's comments on masks, the letter from the staff also mentions that students have complained about Miller's conduct for several years due to his "discussion around controversial views and non-evidence based arguments."

It goes on to single out Miller's characterization of transgender surgery as a "eugenic form of sterilization" on his "highly visible website."

Miller's lawsuit says that the letter from NYU faculty unfairly puts his professional career in jeopardy, and any accusation that he engages in hate speech towards transgender person is false.

"By and through the publication of their false claims, defendants have caused plaintiff embarrassment, humiliation, a loss of professional standing, emotional distress and exacerbated the symptoms of a serious physical illness he suffers," the suit reads.

The defendants have within 20 days to respond to the suit.