Overview
- Associate professor Karen Leader and finance professor Rebel Cole returned to work this week after two months on paid leave.
- Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson concluded their social-media remarks were private-citizen speech on matters of public concern and did not impede campus functions.
- FAU accepted Lawson’s recommendations, imposing no formal discipline and planning written guidance on civility and professionalism, with voluntary training encouraged.
- The report described some language as crude or intemperate and close to conduct unbecoming, yet still within constitutional protection and posted from personal accounts off duty.
- Cole’s federal First Amendment lawsuit against FAU remains active, and English professor Kate Polak is still under investigation and has not been reinstated.