Ohio Northern University’s Disregard for the Rule of Law

As its April 7 trial date approaches, Scott Gerber’s case against Ohio Northern University (ONU) Law School—which I have written about previously in City Journal and in my latest book Lawless—has taken another odious turn. The school has now filed a federal lawsuit against Gerber for having the gall to defend his rights. For the uninitiated, Gerber’s vocal opposition to his former employer’s DEI policies led to his dismissal from his tenured post at the school. But the school is seemingly unsatisfied with taking away his livelihood.

This frivolous countersuit is only the latest example of the university’s persistent disregard for due process and the rule of law. It also shows that the diversity-industrial complex won’t go quietly.

The university launched its initial investigation of Gerber in January 2023. Campus security officers interrupted one of his classes to escort him to the law school dean. He was then suspended, barred from campus, and given an ultimatum: resign, or be fired. In a Kafkaesque twist, Gerber was never told the reasons for the investigation—until a judge ordered the university to disclose them.

Only then did Gerber learn that ONU was dismissing him for a supposed “lack of collegiality.” This wasn’t due to any violation of professional standards or unfitness to teach. Rather, it stemmed from his good-faith belief that the law school’s hiring chair was breaking the law by making race a key factor in faculty hiring decisions.

Gerber filed a lawsuit against ONU, alleging due-process violations and breach of his employment contract. After all, notice is a fundamental principle of due process. Without it, he couldn’t meaningfully defend himself at his termination hearing.

An Ohio state court, recognizing the merits of his case, allowed the suit to proceed, citing ONU’s “troubling” failure to provide justification for his dismissal and its “callous disregard for due process.” The case has since dragged on, with mediation efforts collapsing in the face of ONU’s intransigence. It is now set to go to trial later this month.

But there’s more. Earlier this year, ONU brought a separate federal lawsuit accusing Gerber of harboring a political vendetta and abusing the legal process by using his free speech rights to “manufacture” outrage against the school. The irony seems lost on ONU: it is alleging abuse of process while simultaneously using the federal courts in a transparent attempt to obstruct ongoing state proceedings.

ONU’s meritless suit amounts to nothing more than the weaponization of the law—the very thing it accuses Gerber of doing. After state courts refused ONU’s pleas to dismiss Gerber’s suit—and with the professor’s having balked at the school’s lowball settlement offer—the university now seeks to punish him by burdening him with further litigation costs.

Gerber’s ongoing mistreatment at the hands of his former employer is a reminder that, even as Donald Trump’s election marked a broader political and cultural “vibe shift,” the discriminatory practices entrenched in higher education have not gone away—nor have the administrators who enforce them.

In the face of Supreme Court rulings and executive action, administrators like those at ONU are engaging in a kind of institutional resistance, recalling the Jim Crow South’s defiance of desegregation orders. If this case reveals anything, it’s that higher education remains in the grip of identitarians who will attack their critics and manipulate the law to protect their agenda.

Consider the facts: Gerber is a respected academic and a beloved teacher. Yet ONU saw fit to humiliate him in front of his students and ultimately dismiss him for the “crime” of speaking out against racially discriminatory hiring practices. The school has already violated his due process rights and now seeks to silence him further. Its leadership has shown open contempt for the rule of law, filing a retaliatory countersuit against Gerber simply for defending his conscience.

Those of us opposing DEI and other radical ideologies should take note: the movement and its adherents are not backing down.

Photo: Pulse / The Image Bank via Getty Images