Will Moravits was on his way to building a brilliant career. He started young as a law enforcement officer but wanted more. So he pursued a Master’s Degree and then went on to complete a PhD.
He is known by his friends and colleagues as Dr. Moravits who had goals to teach, inspire, and educate America’s youth.
But St. Philips College had different plans for his future and terminated him last spring. It was reported that Dr. Moravits allowed and encouraged debates in his classroom that were centered around hot-topic social issues like police brutality, transgender rights, and gender ideology.
It was also reported that an unnamed student had filed a complaint that the former police officer turned professor made homophobic and pro-police brutality comments. The college opened an investigation, suspended Dr. Moravits, and terminated him. However, there was a lack of due process despite a mountain of evidence suggesting those allegations were completely unfounded.
With the assistance of the Academic Freedom Alliance, Dr. Moravits fought the baseless allegations and came out victorious – a $185,000 settlement.
“So, I do think it was a victory in the sense that I was able to make it hurt for them a little bit,” Dr. Moravits told LET in an exclusive interview.
Although he won a considerable amount of money, he feels there is another, more important victory – a victory against a major institution with seemingly unlimited power.
“I think it's definitely something that sends a message that people like me are not going to take this lying down. We're not going to just roll over,” Dr. Moravits said. “There are organizations like the Academic Freedom Alliance. There are other ones out there who are willing to help take the burden of the financial cost of a lawyer so we can fight back against these institutions. Hopefully, this sends a message to them that if they continue to act in this manner - there's going to be some real consequences.”
Dr. Moravits mentioned that another colleague at St. Philips went through a similar experience where his academic freedom was also infringed and was terminated. There is speculation that St. Philips is overreaching their authority and imposing their will onto professors – a troubling dynamic.
“At some point, the board is going to be like, ‘What's going on at St. Philip’s?’ I know that in my case, my US congressman, Chip Roy, wrote a letter to the president wanting to know what's going on,” Dr. Moravits said. “This other professor had a letter written by Chip Roy, Dan Crenshaw, Ted Cruz, and a couple of others to the same president saying, ‘Hey, this is becoming a pattern.’”
He continued, “Unfortunately, even though Saint Philip’s sounds like it's a private institution, it's public. It's really the taxpayers that are paying for this. And that's unfortunate because you would hope that your taxpayer money would go to institutions when it comes to higher education that are going to support free speech.”
Free speech is a fundamental part of our democracy. And if there is a possibility that it is being suppressed, it must be investigated swiftly and thoroughly. Anything less would be unacceptable for the health of America.
And Dr. Moravits is an example of that. He fought back.
“And I think that the more people fight back, the better it's going to be for everybody,” he said. “We have to put pressure on these people in power because the only way that things are going to change is if the boards start feeling pressure and they fire these administrators.”
The Complaint
Dr. Moravits and his legal team state that the complaint against him by an unidentified student was simply frivolous. According to his lawsuit, he “did nothing more than ask students to engage all sides of controversial issues in American life, such as police brutality and gender ideology”.
But Dr. Moravits was accused of making statements along the lines of “the LGBTQ community is riddled with pedophilia”. Another statement alleged Dr. Moravits stated “…we need police brutality” in connection to the murder of George Floyd.
However, several students submitted affidavits in support of Dr. Moravits. The affidavits stated that he is not only an effective professor but one who supports all points of view and encourages his students to do the same.
In one example, one of Dr. Moravits’ students, who is considered “very much a liberal”, said in his statement, “I found him [Dr. Moravits] to be a really great mentor. I have never seen Dr. Moravits cause any harm to anybody. . . . my discussions with Dr. Moravits were always a great experience. He is the only teacher I encountered at Saint Philip’s who made me rethink things in a positive way.”
His Book
About two years ago, Dr. Moravits authored the book, The Blue Divide: Policing and Race in America. He feels that it isn’t a coincidence that things at St. Philip’s College changed since he released his book.
“So what my colleagues and I go back to is this all stems from the book I wrote about policing and race last year that upset them [college administration]. So, I've been on their radar ever since,” Dr. Moravits said. “There were some text messages sent from other employees saying that I need to be pushed out because my ideas ‘threaten democracy’ which is ridiculous.”
Dr. Moravits takes American democracy very seriously. In fact, he is a member of the Sons of American Revolution – an organization with historic roots that promotes patriotism.
“As a police officer, I gave an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. I'm a member of the Sons of American Revolution. We reaffirm that oath at all of our meetings every month. So this idea that I would be a threat is ridiculous,” he said.
He continued, “What I was is a threat to this prevailing narrative that police are the bad guys. There are other ways to think about social issues and they didn't want that. They didn't want that in their college because they wanted the students to only hear one perspective. And the reality is when I teach, I actually do teach both perspectives.”
Dr. Moravits and many people in academia understand that there is a general lack of support for law enforcement. He believes, as he should, that his previous experience as a law enforcement officer played a role in his termination.
He also expressed concern for the current state of institutions of higher learning. Dr. Moravits once attended an anti-racism reading club where he was surprised to learn that it was virtually an angry hour of anti-police, anti-white rhetoric.
And this wasn’t relegated to just students.
“I was just appalled when one of the faculty members actually said that she would be afraid to call the police for help because she was as likely to be shot by police as much as the person committing crime against her,” he said. “So this anti-police sentiment definitely exists.”
After Dr. Moravits published his book, members of the administration questioned him as to the content of his courses. They showed concern that his views weren’t aligned with the school’s.
“In the textbook that the college has chosen, it talks about Black Lives Matter. It says police discriminate against black people in the book. So as an academic, I feel like it's my duty to give contextualized information… explain what the data actually says. But again, that's not something that apparently was welcomed there,” Dr. Moravits said.
Dr. Moravits’ experience with St. Philip’s ended in victory but his mission is just beginning. He understands the troubling direction colleges and universities are heading.
“What I would want the readers or the people that listen to my story is that you know we're at the precipice of a point in America where we really have to just stand up for what's right or things are just going to really fall off the edge. And what made America exceptional in this world will be lost,” Dr. Moravits said.
He is more than a voice for law enforcement, he is a voice for America. And his message is clear – justice, truth, and fairness must be fought for because it’s the right thing to do.
He is known by his friends and colleagues as Dr. Moravits who had goals to teach, inspire, and educate America’s youth.
But St. Philips College had different plans for his future and terminated him last spring. It was reported that Dr. Moravits allowed and encouraged debates in his classroom that were centered around hot-topic social issues like police brutality, transgender rights, and gender ideology.
It was also reported that an unnamed student had filed a complaint that the former police officer turned professor made homophobic and pro-police brutality comments. The college opened an investigation, suspended Dr. Moravits, and terminated him. However, there was a lack of due process despite a mountain of evidence suggesting those allegations were completely unfounded.
With the assistance of the Academic Freedom Alliance, Dr. Moravits fought the baseless allegations and came out victorious – a $185,000 settlement.
“So, I do think it was a victory in the sense that I was able to make it hurt for them a little bit,” Dr. Moravits told LET in an exclusive interview.
Although he won a considerable amount of money, he feels there is another, more important victory – a victory against a major institution with seemingly unlimited power.
“I think it's definitely something that sends a message that people like me are not going to take this lying down. We're not going to just roll over,” Dr. Moravits said. “There are organizations like the Academic Freedom Alliance. There are other ones out there who are willing to help take the burden of the financial cost of a lawyer so we can fight back against these institutions. Hopefully, this sends a message to them that if they continue to act in this manner - there's going to be some real consequences.”
Dr. Moravits mentioned that another colleague at St. Philips went through a similar experience where his academic freedom was also infringed and was terminated. There is speculation that St. Philips is overreaching their authority and imposing their will onto professors – a troubling dynamic.
“At some point, the board is going to be like, ‘What's going on at St. Philip’s?’ I know that in my case, my US congressman, Chip Roy, wrote a letter to the president wanting to know what's going on,” Dr. Moravits said. “This other professor had a letter written by Chip Roy, Dan Crenshaw, Ted Cruz, and a couple of others to the same president saying, ‘Hey, this is becoming a pattern.’”
He continued, “Unfortunately, even though Saint Philip’s sounds like it's a private institution, it's public. It's really the taxpayers that are paying for this. And that's unfortunate because you would hope that your taxpayer money would go to institutions when it comes to higher education that are going to support free speech.”
Free speech is a fundamental part of our democracy. And if there is a possibility that it is being suppressed, it must be investigated swiftly and thoroughly. Anything less would be unacceptable for the health of America.
And Dr. Moravits is an example of that. He fought back.
“And I think that the more people fight back, the better it's going to be for everybody,” he said. “We have to put pressure on these people in power because the only way that things are going to change is if the boards start feeling pressure and they fire these administrators.”
The Complaint
Dr. Moravits and his legal team state that the complaint against him by an unidentified student was simply frivolous. According to his lawsuit, he “did nothing more than ask students to engage all sides of controversial issues in American life, such as police brutality and gender ideology”.
But Dr. Moravits was accused of making statements along the lines of “the LGBTQ community is riddled with pedophilia”. Another statement alleged Dr. Moravits stated “…we need police brutality” in connection to the murder of George Floyd.
However, several students submitted affidavits in support of Dr. Moravits. The affidavits stated that he is not only an effective professor but one who supports all points of view and encourages his students to do the same.
In one example, one of Dr. Moravits’ students, who is considered “very much a liberal”, said in his statement, “I found him [Dr. Moravits] to be a really great mentor. I have never seen Dr. Moravits cause any harm to anybody. . . . my discussions with Dr. Moravits were always a great experience. He is the only teacher I encountered at Saint Philip’s who made me rethink things in a positive way.”
His Book
About two years ago, Dr. Moravits authored the book, The Blue Divide: Policing and Race in America. He feels that it isn’t a coincidence that things at St. Philip’s College changed since he released his book.
“So what my colleagues and I go back to is this all stems from the book I wrote about policing and race last year that upset them [college administration]. So, I've been on their radar ever since,” Dr. Moravits said. “There were some text messages sent from other employees saying that I need to be pushed out because my ideas ‘threaten democracy’ which is ridiculous.”
Dr. Moravits takes American democracy very seriously. In fact, he is a member of the Sons of American Revolution – an organization with historic roots that promotes patriotism.
“As a police officer, I gave an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. I'm a member of the Sons of American Revolution. We reaffirm that oath at all of our meetings every month. So this idea that I would be a threat is ridiculous,” he said.
He continued, “What I was is a threat to this prevailing narrative that police are the bad guys. There are other ways to think about social issues and they didn't want that. They didn't want that in their college because they wanted the students to only hear one perspective. And the reality is when I teach, I actually do teach both perspectives.”
Dr. Moravits and many people in academia understand that there is a general lack of support for law enforcement. He believes, as he should, that his previous experience as a law enforcement officer played a role in his termination.
He also expressed concern for the current state of institutions of higher learning. Dr. Moravits once attended an anti-racism reading club where he was surprised to learn that it was virtually an angry hour of anti-police, anti-white rhetoric.
And this wasn’t relegated to just students.
“I was just appalled when one of the faculty members actually said that she would be afraid to call the police for help because she was as likely to be shot by police as much as the person committing crime against her,” he said. “So this anti-police sentiment definitely exists.”
After Dr. Moravits published his book, members of the administration questioned him as to the content of his courses. They showed concern that his views weren’t aligned with the school’s.
“In the textbook that the college has chosen, it talks about Black Lives Matter. It says police discriminate against black people in the book. So as an academic, I feel like it's my duty to give contextualized information… explain what the data actually says. But again, that's not something that apparently was welcomed there,” Dr. Moravits said.
Dr. Moravits’ experience with St. Philip’s ended in victory but his mission is just beginning. He understands the troubling direction colleges and universities are heading.
“What I would want the readers or the people that listen to my story is that you know we're at the precipice of a point in America where we really have to just stand up for what's right or things are just going to really fall off the edge. And what made America exceptional in this world will be lost,” Dr. Moravits said.
He is more than a voice for law enforcement, he is a voice for America. And his message is clear – justice, truth, and fairness must be fought for because it’s the right thing to do.
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