This Professor Was Suspended for Calling His Students ‘Vectors of Disease.’ Now He’s Suing.

A Ferris State University professor is suing the institution after he was suspended for a now-viral video for a course in which he refers to his students as “vectors of disease.”

The Michigan university placed Barry Mehler, a tenured history professor, on administrative leave this month and said it had started an investigation into the video, which the institution’s president, David L. Eisler, said had left him “shocked and appalled.”

Mehler’s lawsuit, filed on Wednesday, states that the video was part of “The Show,” an intentionally provocative performance Mehler has created for his classes that includes “strong themes, colorful language, and modern cultural references, to capture students’ attention and challenge them to think critically.”

In the 14-minute video, posted the day before spring-term classes began, Mehler goes through typical syllabus information — like grades and plagiarism — in an avant-garde fashion.

He kicks off the video in a helmet, talking to the students as if he were someone from another planet and referencing the Covid-19 pandemic. As he introduces class expectations, Mehler refers to students as “vectors of disease” and recommends using Zoom to contact him. He then touches on his plagiarism policy during a profanity-laced segment based on a scene from the HBO show Deadwood. At one point he notes that students can complain to the dean if they want to, but he’s about to retire and couldn’t care less.

The lawsuit argues that Mehler’s colorful teaching style is well known and that it, along with any critical remarks about the university’s Covid-19 protocols, is not grounds for suspension and is a violation of his First and 14th Amendment rights. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, seeks a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against his suspension.

When asked for comment on the suit, the university directed The Chronicle to its first statement on Mehler’s video, in which Eisler calls it “profane, offensive, and disturbing.”