MSGF files free-speech lawsuit against Emory University on behalf of three professors

Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP has filed a civil lawsuit in the State Court of DeKalb County on behalf of three tenured Emory University professors, Noëlle McAfee, Emil' Keme, and Caroline Fohlin, challenging their wrongful arrests and prosecutions during a 2024 campus protest over the Israel-Hamas war.

Professor McAfee is a Professor of Philosophy and a past President of the University Senate and past Chair of the Faculty Council. Professor Keme is a Professor of English and Indigenous Studies. Professor Fohlin is a Professor of Economics. All three are full professors with tenure.

At the time, Emory’s Respect for Open Expression Policy declared the university’s commitment to a community that supports open expression, dissent, and protest. On April 25, 2024, during a protest on campus, university leaders instead summoned the Atlanta Police Department and the Georgia State Patrol to disperse the demonstration, and 28 people were arrested.

The three professors were among them. Each had come to the quad out of concern for the safety of students and colleagues; each was arrested and criminally charged. The misdemeanor charges against all three were later dismissed. For Professor Fohlin, who says she sustained lasting injuries during a violent takedown, it took prosecutors more than a year to drop a charge of battery on a law enforcement officer.

The suit contends that Emory’s decision to call in outside law enforcement to suppress the open expression of its students and faculty has become a pattern, and that the university violated its own policies and falsely imprisoned the plaintiffs. It seeks accountability, reimbursement of the professors’ legal defense costs, and damages. The matter is pending in the State Court of DeKalb County.

The professors are represented by the firm’s Zack Greenamyre, Andrew Canter, and Nicolas Steenland.