{"id":14225,"date":"2025-09-16T18:30:28","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T22:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/?p=14225"},"modified":"2025-09-26T00:34:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T04:34:15","slug":"texas-state-university-fires-history-professor-tom-alter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2025\/09\/texas-state-university-fires-history-professor-tom-alter\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas State University Fires History Professor Tom Alter"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a statement<\/a> from the Texas State Employees Union<\/strong> condemning the termination of Texas State University Professor Tom Alter for his speech at a socialist conference\u2013even as the assassination of right-wing campus agitator Charlie Kirk sparks widespread targeting<\/a> of Left professors and others.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Tempest<\/strong> stands in solidarity with Tom. To support the fight to reinstate his position, sign the official TSEU petition<\/a>, the solidarity petition<\/a>, or join us in contributing to his fundraiser<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

T<\/span>he Texas State Employees Union CWA Local 6186 (TSEU) condemns the abrupt termination of Dr. Tom Alter, a respected historian, educator, and active member of the Texas State University community, for statements he made as a private citizen.<\/p>\n

Without a hearing or any meaningful opportunity to respond, university administrators under the leadership of President Kelly Damphousse removed Dr. Alter from his position in response to an online smear campaign led by Karlyn Borysenko. Borysenko has publicly called for embracing fascism<\/a>, stated that Jewish people chose to die in the Holocaust<\/a>, and refers to herself as an “anti-communist cult leader.”<\/a> She recorded a talk that Dr. Alter gave at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference on Sunday, September 7th and began calling for his firing<\/a> on social media on Monday, September 8th. The transcript of the talk can be viewed here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is exactly what the First Amendment protects against,\u201d said TSEU President Ilesa Daniels Ross. “No public employee should fear losing their job because they expressed personal views outside of work. Texas State University\u2019s decision sends a chilling message to every faculty member, staff member, and student: your job can be taken away if political actors don\u2019t like what you say on your own time.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Dr. Alter, a beloved professor known for his scholarship in U.S. labor and social movement history, received no due process. He gave the talk in question at a conference on Sunday, September 7th and learned that he had been terminated in a public statement<\/a>\u00a0from Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse on Wednesday, September 10th.<\/p>\n

TSEU calls on Texas State University to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reinstate Dr. Alter immediately.<\/li>\n
  2. Publicly affirm the constitutional right of all employees to speak as private citizens without retaliation.<\/li>\n
  3. Establish clear policies guaranteeing due process before any termination related to off-duty expression.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \u201cThis isn\u2019t just about one professor,\u201d added Daniels Ross. \u201cIt\u2019s about protecting every Texan\u2019s freedom to speak their mind without government interference. If a university president can cave to an extremist YouTuber today, what stops the next attack on free expression tomorrow?\u201d<\/p>\n

    TSEU urges students, faculty, and community members to stand together and demand that Texas State University live up to its First Amendment obligations.<\/p>\n

    For more information, contact Catarina Kissinger \u2013 Texas State Employees Union CWA Local 6186 (TSEU) at 610-568-0971 or ckissinger@cwa-tseu.org.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see \u201cAbout Tempest Collective<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/small>
    \nFeatured Image credit:     Texas State Employees Union<\/a>; modified by Tempest.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A statement from the Texas State Employees Union<\/strong> condemning the termination of Texas State University Professor Tom Alter. Tempest<\/strong> stands in solidarity with Tom Alter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10,583],"tags":[149,158],"class_list":["post-14225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-reprint","category-solidarity-statement","tag-higher-education","tag-texas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Copy-of-tempest_feature_card.jpg-8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}