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(From a Cornell law professor)
Some supporters of the trustees’ decision point to the often-important
distinction between firing and not hiring. Academic freedom, they point
out, is mostly a matter of contract law, and because Salaita had not yet
been formally hired by the University of Illinois, he was not entitled
to the same protection as someone who was already a member of the faculty.
But that view appears to be false as a matter of contract law. Like many
other states, Illinois law offers protection to people who, in
reasonable reliance on an offer that falls short of a fully enforceable
contract, take actions to their detriment. The Illinois Supreme Court
affirmed this principle of “promissory estoppel” as recently as 2009, in
the case of Newton Tractor Sales v. Kubota Tractor Corp.
Salaita has an almost-classic case of promissory estoppel. He was told
by Illinois that trustee approval was essentially a rubber stamp, and in
reliance on that representation he resigned from his prior position on
the faculty of Virginia Tech.
To be sure, a party who sues for promissory estoppel rather than suing
under a formal contract typically only recovers to the extent of his
reliance, rather than in strict accordance with what he expected to gain
under the contract. But here, there is no real difference between what
contract law calls the reliance interest and the expectancy interest: By
giving up his position at Virginia Tech, Salaita gave up a job in which
he had academic freedom; thus, recognition of his promissory estoppel
claim should mean that Illinois must afford him academic freedom.
full: http://verdict.justia.com/2014/08/13/academic-freedom-salaita-case
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