college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” (Id. ¶ 23). Provost Bruce viewed the watchlist as “an effort to single out individuals for the purpose of harassing them.” (Id. ¶ 24). Indeed, she and other academics had expressed concerns about how a professor would end up on the watchlist even before the organization arrived on campus. (Id. ¶ 25).
The idea of maintaining a watchlist seemingly played into a portion of the flyer created by Mr. Smith. That flyer begins by stating:
This racist college professor thought it would be a great idea to help start a Tennessee Tech chapter for this national hate group, where racist students can unite to harass, threaten, intimidate, and terrorize persons of color, feminists, liberals, and the like, especially their teachers. Their organization created a national ‘Professor Watchlist’ to harass and intimidate progressive educators, including many women, African-American, and Muslim professors.
This statement is followed by a large picture of Dr. Donadio sitting in a chair. After the picture, the flyer concludes with the following text:
Professor Donadio and Turning Point USA. You are on our list.
Your hate & hypocrisy are not welcome at Tennessee Tech.
No Unity With Racists. Hate Speech Is Not Free Speech.
(Doc. No. 52-4). The flyer was created by Mr. Smith at home using his own personal software. (PSOF ¶ 33).
Around 3:30 p.m. on February 5, 2021, Dr. Gruber placed a handful of flyers in the lounge, the auditorium (where Dr. Donadio sometimes taught classes), the kitchen, and in common areas of Bell Hall. (DSOF ¶ 8). Frank Sterling, an IT employee at the school found at least some of those
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Case 2:21-cv-00039 Document 90 Filed 12/01/22 Page 4 of 27 PageID #: 8916
