A tenured law professor has filed a lawsuit against the University of Kentucky after being banned from teaching and the law school over comments he made about Israel. Ramsi Woodcock, an antitrust law scholar, argues that the public university violated his First Amendment and due process rights when it placed him under investigation in July, shortly after his promotion to full professor.
The investigation was triggered by Woodcock's characterisation of Israel as a 'colonisation project' and calls for the world to wage war against it. The university alleges that his comments violate anti-discrimination rules incorporating the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely disputed. Woodcock's lawsuit is the first to explicitly challenge the constitutionality of the IHRA definition and its application to criticism of Israel under federal Title VI protections.
University spokesperson Jay Blanton stated that Woodcock has not been suspended but 'reassigned' pending the outcome of the investigation. Woodcock is banned from teaching, advising students, attending faculty meetings, and accessing the law school building, with only 'professional development' permitted. Blanton said the university has an obligation to act if someone's views threaten the safety of students and staff under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Woodcock's petition, through the Antizionist Legal Studies Movement he founded, calls for every country to 'make war on Israel immediately' until it submits to Palestinian governance. The university's president, Eli Capilouto, denounced the petition as 'calling for the destruction of a people based on national origin'. Woodcock rejects this, comparing his calls to the end of other Western colonies in the 20th century, which he views as liberation rather than destruction.
Attorneys from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), representing Woodcock, argue that the petition is constitutionally protected speech. The case tests the boundaries of free speech protections for controversial political views, especially those that could be interpreted as supporting violence.
