University investigated music journal editor, now will pay
The University of North Texas will pay $725,000 to settle a First Amendment lawsuit from Professor Timothy Jackson, following its “formal investigation” and sanctions against him.
The university will also “resume publication” of the journal and reduce Jackson’s teaching load by one-course and “appoint a half-time Research Assistant to support the journal,” according to free speech expert Eugene Volokh. He wrote about the settlement at the Volokh Conspiracy, a free speech blog published by Reason.
Volokh said Jackson (pictured) will receive $400,000 in the settlement and his legal team will receive $325,000.
The settlement, finalized on July 2, ends a five-year battle that began when Jackson organized a symposium to respond to criticism of 19th century German music theorist Heinrich Schenker. Jackson is the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Schenkerian Studies, which is housed at UNT.
The July 2020 symposium included Jackson’s own rebuttal of Hunter College Professor Philip Ewell, who had accused Schenker of being a racist. (Subsequent to that claim, Ewell has also suggested his own father was racist for liking Beethoven).
As previously reported by The College Fix:
The black professor argued that Schenker was “an ardent racist and German nationalist” whose ideas exist “to benefit members of the dominant white race of music theory.”
Volume 12 of the UNT-produced journal presented a collection of critical responses to Ewell’s paper to convey a “variety of thoughts and perspectives.” Jackson’s own critique called Ewell’s work an attempt to construct a “conspiracy theory” around Schenker, who was Jewish, that is “part and parcel of the much broader current of Black anti-semitism.”
Jackson’s own colleagues as well as UNT students circulated a petition calling for “[r]esponsible parties” to be held “appropriately accountable” for the volume.
A July 2020 statement accused Jackson of “platforming of racist sentiments.”
As The Fix previously reported, the statement claims UNT has “a reputation as an institution with a toxic culture when it comes to issues of race, gender, and other aspects of diversity,” as evidenced by volume 12 of the journal.
The journal “is replete with racial stereotyping and tropes,” and while not all its contributions include “such egregious material,” it promotes “a racist discourse that has no place in any publication,” 17 professors wrote.
It lacked a “clearly defined peer-review process” and should have let Ewell “respond in print,” the professors said, as previously reported by The Fix.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: University of North Texas Professor Timothy Jackson; David Lescaleet/YouTube