A federal appeals court has rejected a professor’s lawsuit against the University of New Hampshire that, after nearly three years of litigation, has done little but highlight his ill-advised actions in the university’s department of biochemistry and molecular biology.
The case stems from what the court described as an “expletive-laden tirade” by John Collins, a tenured associate professor and chair of the department, after his car was ticketed on the campus in June 2007 and he suspected a colleague had reported his illegally parked car to the authorities. In his tirade, Mr. Collins threatened to kill the colleague. He also “kicked a large trash can,” the court said.
Mr. Collins ended up being stripped of his chairmanship and temporarily put on paid leave and banned from the campus. He also faced criminal charges of stalking and disorderly conduct, but a jury acquitted him in late 2007.
Mr. Collins later sued the university, its provost, and a police officer, accusing them of false arrest, defamation, and violation of his due-process rights. A federal district court ruled summarily against him in 2010, and on Tuesday a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the lower court’s decision. Mr. Collins continues to serve on the department’s faculty.
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