Bishop v. Aronov

Bishop v. Aronov

Opinion

 [*1067]  GIBSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

The University of Alabama through its Board of Trustees (the "University") appeals the district court's summary judgment and other orders in favor of Assistant  [*1068]  Professor Phillip A. Bishop ("Dr. Bishop") enjoining the University from curtailing his speech and religion rights in certain respects. ² We conclude that the action taken by the University did not transgress constitutional guarantees and proscriptions, and we now reverse.

I. BACKGROUND

Our review of the record reveals that a completely independent statement of the facts would not be useful. We do not disagree with the district court as to any facts, though our views [**2]  diverge as to the controlling legal principles and the conclusions to be drawn from them. These questions of law we take up presently by a de novo review of the interplay between the facts and law. See Jones v. Heyman, 888 F.2d 1328, 1330-31 (11th Cir.1989) (per curiam) (citations omitted). First, we largely adopt the district court's statement of the facts, quoting freely therefrom and supplementing it as necessary.

Phillip A. Bishop has been employed as assistant professor in the Area of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation [HPER], in the College of Education at the University of Alabama and Director of its Human Performance Laboratory since 1984. He teaches exercise physiology, his specialty, to graduate and undergraduate students and supervises research problems and theses.

During the fall of 1984 through the spring of 1987 Dr. Bishop occasionally referred to his religious beliefs during instructional time, remarks which he prefaced as personal "bias." Some of his references concerned his understanding of the creative force behind human physiology. Other statements involved brief explanations of a philosophical approach to problems and advice to students on coping with [**3]  academic stresses. In response to students' questions concerning academic research, publishing, tenure, or promotion, Bishop has suggested to the students that his religious beliefs are more important than academic production, and this perspective allows him to better cope with academic stresses. He never engaged in prayer, read passages from the Bible, handed out religious tracts, or arranged for guest speakers to lecture on a religious topic during instructional time.

Bishop, 732 F. Supp. at 1563.

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