Kalkstein v. U.S. Military Academy

A former professor at the United States Military Academy (West Point) filed a lawsuit against West Point and three West Point officials alleging that the defendants violated his First Amendment rights by taking “adverse actions terminating his employment at West Point because he taught that humans influenced climate change and then protested the directive that this not be mentioned in his classes.” The plaintiff alleged that he taught climate science, among other subjects, as a civilian faculty member at West Point for more than 17 years. He alleged that in May 2025 his tenured position was eliminated. Although his superior told the plaintiff that the adverse action was not related to his expertise in climate science, the plaintiff alleged that the adverse action was taken “because he taught that current climate change had primarily human causes, something contrary to the ideology of the Commander in Chief and forbidden at West Point.” The plaintiff alleged that the defendants agreed that the plaintiff could remain at West Point as a term employee paid with his grant money but that in September 2025, the Geography Program Director “relayed a verbal order that professors could no longer teach about anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change and that professors must remove all mention of human causes of climate change from their courses.” The plaintiff alleged that he expressed his opposition to the order in a meeting but “[d]espite his profound misgivings,” continued to obey the order through the fall 2025 semester and removed a lesson highlighting climate change from a spring 2026 meteorology course. The plaintiff alleged that in May 2026 he was informed that the defendants had decided not to renew his contract. He alleged that the elimination of his tenured teaching position, the order forbidding the mentioning of anthropogenic climate change, and the premature termination of his appointment violated his First Amendment right to free speech. He requested an injunction enjoining the defendants from restricting academic freedom and “the capacity of a professor to fairly represent the state of scientific research and knowledge. He also asked the court to order the defendants to reinstate him as a tenured professor and to award him compensatory damages and attorney fees and costs.