COLLIN COUNTY, Texas — When Dr. Michael Phillips' contract with Collin College ends in May, he will not receive an offer for a renewal. Phillips has been a history professor at Collin College's Plano campus for almost 14 years.
He received the letter on Jan. 28. Information provided by Collin College states the school's policy requires staff with multi-year contracts to be informed that their contracts won't be renewed by Jan. 31.
"There's always a shock when it happens," Phillips said. "But there's been an ongoing war on the First Amendment and free speech at Collin College for a number of years."
Phillips said his department was presented with guidance for curriculum and syllabi content last fall. Staff members were instructed to "remove all details requiring or suggesting face masks/social distancing."
"We couldn't do it in our syllabus or in person in the classes," Phillips said.
Phillips shared the policy on social media. He said he also presented the guidance to his students, as part of a discussion on mask-wearing and pandemics.
"I told them they should consider the impact of what they do on other people... that we had a raging pandemic," Phillips said. "I said, 'look, I'm not going to judge you. I hate wearing masks.'"
He received a disciplinary document following his presentation.
"They said students had supposedly complained," Phillips said.
In the document Phillips provided to WFAA, his supervisor notes that Phillips did show a PowerPoint presentation to his class that had been presented during a division meeting but that it was shown without context.
The supervisor who completed the form used the term "continued conduct" more than once, stating that Phillips violated the school board's policy and ethics code.
He said the issues he's had with college have stemmed from him speaking out on issues -- mainly racism. He also said he was reprimanded for speaking out about other faculty members who were let go after they questioned the school's COVID-19 protocols.
In 2017, he received a letter from the college after he co-authored an opinion piece in the Dallas Morning News about the importance of removing confederate statues and monuments.
The letter stated that staff is free to voice their opinions but should not do so in a way that represents the college or alludes to their opinion being one that represents the views of the college.
“I was also told that I might make the college look bad because of my advocacy for removing racist statues so that was kind of my first major run in with the college over free speech," Phillips said.
In 2019, after the El Paso shooting, Phillips was interviewed for an article in the Washington Post about the role that race issues in Texas played in the shooting. The suspect in that shooting had been a student at Collin College from 2017 to 2019, and the college had directed staff to send all requests for media interviews through the college's communications department.
Phillips said he did not discuss the shooting itself for the article and asked the reporter not to include his workplace but that his request was not granted. He also said his goal was to speak on the issue of race, as a subject expert.
“They said the fact that my affiliation with Collin College was used, violated policy," Phillips said.
Collin College did not want to participate in an interview for this story but provided a statement that read, in part, "Our faculty members sign term contracts that – by operation of law – end in May of their respective terms. While we understand a faculty member alleges otherwise, the fact is that once faculty members reach the end of their contract, the college may make the decision not to continue that relationship, which is within our rights as an employer to do."
The college also provided an illustration of its contract renewal process for staff, stating that the process takes recommendations and accounts from a number of people at different levels.
Phillips said he went before the school's Council of Excellence, which is one of the groups mentioned in the school's diagram.
"They recommended me for an extension," Phillips said.
He also pointed out that he wrote an award-winning book on racism in Dallas and has earned a number of teaching awards. The East Texas Historical Association, Academic Freedom Alliance and American Historical Association have all written letters condemning the college's decision.
In its statement, Collin College maintained that it hadn't terminated any current professor's contract. Phillips equates a non-renewal, at this point in his career, to being fired.
"It’s been an atmosphere of terror. Faculty are afraid to speak out about anything. They’re afraid they’ll get in trouble for what they teach in the classroom. I was disciplined for teaching facts," he said.
Phillips said he does not feel confident he'll get his job back, but he's hired legal representation that he hopes will lead to policy change at the college.
"I hope they will implement policy changes that provide protection for faculty," Phillips said.