A Texas State University professor sued the school in federal court this week, asking a judge to block his termination and alleging officials punished him for an off-campus talk about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Austin, seeks to block Texas State from ending the employment of Idris Robinson, a tenure-track philosophy professor, on May 31, and alleges officials violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for a talk he gave at an anarchist book fair in North Carolina. It is at least the second recent lawsuit accusing the university of firing a professor over speech made outside the classroom.
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Robinson gave a talk titled “Strategic Lessons from the Palestinian Resistance” in June 2024 at the Another Carolina Anarchist Book Fair in Asheville, North Carolina. The event was recorded, and a scuffle broke out afterward, which local police investigated but did not link to Robinson, according to the lawsuit.
Nearly a year later, on June 5, 2025, a pro-Israel activist posted video from the talk on Instagram, accusing Robinson of inciting violence and calling on the university to fire him, the lawsuit says. The post drew about 1,500 likes and 220 comments. The next day, the university placed Robinson on paid administrative leave and barred him from communicating with students and colleagues, the lawsuit says. In July 2025, the university notified him that his contract would not be renewed and that his employment would end on May 31, 2026, without providing a reason. Robinson appealed the decision through the university’s grievance process, but officials upheld it.
Robinson joined Texas State in 2022 as a tenure-track professor and had received consistently positive performance reviews. In 2024, he was rated “excellent,” and the talk was not mentioned, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit argues Texas State violated Robinson’s First Amendment rights by retaliating for speech made as a private citizen, not as part of his job duties.
A Texas State University spokesperson said the university does not comment on active litigation.
The lawsuit follows other recent controversies at Texas State involving faculty and student speech.
Last fall, the university fired tenured history professor Thomas Alter after online activists amplified remarks he made at a socialist conference and called for his firing. His lawsuit in Hays County district court is ongoing. Separately, Gov. Greg Abbott called for Texas State freshman Devion Canty to be expelled for “mocking” Charlie Kirk’s death. Within hours, Canty said, the school told him he must either withdraw or be expelled. He withdrew.
The Texas State Employees Union called Robinson’s treatment “another case where the university chose political appeasement over its responsibility to defend protected political speech.”
The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.