Leonard Jeffries, Jr
Leonard Jeffries, Jr. is a notable figure in the academic field of black studies, having served as a tenured professor and chairman of the black studies department at the City College of New York (CCNY) since 1972. His tenure was marked by controversy, particularly due to his assertion that people of African descent possess intellectual superiority due to higher levels of melanin. A speech he delivered in Albany in 1991 sparked significant backlash, with accusations of antiwhite and anti-Semitic sentiments leading to heightened tensions within the community and academia. In response to the fallout, the City University of New York (CUNY) reduced his term as chairman, which prompted Jeffries to file a lawsuit claiming a violation of his First Amendment rights.
A federal jury ruled in his favor initially, ordering CUNY to reinstate him and awarding him damages. However, subsequent appeals led to a complex legal battle that ultimately concluded with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear his appeal in 1995, effectively upholding CUNY's decision to limit his chairmanship. Jeffries’ case highlights the intersection of academic freedom, speech, and the challenges faced in addressing controversial theories within educational institutions.
Subject Terms
Leonard Jeffries, Jr.
Identification: American college professor
Significance: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled City College of New York did not violate Jeffries’ First Amendment rights when it removed him from chairmanship of his department after he made a controversial speech
Jeffries became a tenured professor and chairman of the black studies department at the City College of New York (CCNY) in 1972. Over the ensuing years, he angered many people on and off campus with his controversial theory that black people, because they have more melanin than whites, are intellectually superior. In July, 1991, he gave a speech in Albany, New York, that many considered antiwhite and, especially, anti-Semitic. City University of New York (CUNY), the system of which CCNY is part, responded by reducing Jeffries’ term as chairman of CCNY’s black studies department from three years to one in March, 1992, while allowing Jeffries to stay on as a tenured professor. Jeffries then sued CUNY, arguing that it had removed him as chairman in response to the speech he had given in Albany and had therefore violated his First Amendment rights and was, in effect, censoring him. In May, 1993, a federal jury agreed with Jeffries; it ordered CUNY to reinstate him as chairman and pay him $400,000 in punitive damages. The trial judge ordered CUNY to reinstate Jeffries as chairman. CUNY appealed the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, which also decided in Jeffries’ favor as to the constitutional violation, but ruled that CUNY did not have to pay him punitive damages. CUNY then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In November, 1994, the Supreme Court ordered the appeals court to reconsider its decision concerning Jeffries in light of its own recent Waters v. Churchill decision, which placed less stringent requirements on public employers seeking to prove that employee speeches are disruptive than had previously been in effect. The appeals court then reversed its earlier decision, finding that CUNY had acted properly, after all, in limiting Jeffries’ term as chairman. In October, 1995, the Supreme Court refused to hear Jeffries’ own appeal, thereby ending the matter’s lengthy journey through the courts.