Gordon Klein UCLA Controversy: A Case Study in Academic Freedom, Due Process, and the Fallout from Ideological Pressure
The Gordon Klein UCLA controversy centers around a professor who sued UCLA after he was suspended in the wake of the George Floyd-Black Lives Matter riots after refusing a request to grade black students leniently. UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein is demanding well over $19 million in damages in a lawsuit scheduled to go to trial March 4 in a Santa Monica courthouse. The two sides have engaged in legal wrangling since September 2021, when Klein first filed suit - including a failed attempt by UCLA’s lawyers to get the case tossed by summary judgment. The causes of action to be hashed out next month are breach of contract, retaliation, false light, and negligent interference with prospective earnings.
The Initial Request and Klein's Response
Following George Floyd’s death in May 2020, a wave of requests for academic leniency swept across college campuses. Students, citing the emotional distress caused by racial tensions and unrest, asked professors to adjust grading policies. Klein received a request asking that he provide academic leniency for his black students enduring emotional duress.
Klein responded June 2, 2020, by asking how he was supposed to identify black students in the online class; whether he should also go easy on white students from Minneapolis; how much leeway to show half-black students; and how the student feels about Martin Luther King Jr.’s admonition to not evaluate people based on “the color of their skin.” He says he wrapped up his reply by citing Martin Luther King’s vision of a colorblind world where people are judged solely by the content of their character, “making it clear that I had no intention of treating any students differently on the basis of their skin color. I thought this would do it and we’d move on with the class final and, just as important, summer break.
This response, intended to question the logic and fairness of race-based grading adjustments, ignited a significant backlash. A screenshot of Klein’s response was distributed widely and decried by students in messages and on social media. Within hours, students were calling for his head. “Soon after, they circulated a petition demanding I be fired; within a day or two, nearly 20,000 had signed - without knowing anything about me or taking into account, as far as I could tell, the implications of non-color-blind grading,” explains Klein.
UCLA's Response: Suspension and Investigation
In response, Anderson School Dean Antonio Bernardo wrote in a June 4, 2020, memo to the campus community that Klein was suspended and an investigation was underway. While not naming Klein specifically, Bernardo’s memo referred to the high-profile incident as “troubling conduct by one of our lecturers.”“Conduct that demonstrates a disregard for our core principles, including an abuse of power, is not acceptable,” he added. “…I deeply regret the increased pain and anger that our community has experienced at this very difficult time. We must and will hold each other to higher standards….”
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Klein found himself the protagonist in a national news story last summer when he responded to an Asian-American student who asked him for a “no harm” final for Black students eight days after George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis. He says he was shocked by the request, recalling the incident in detail in an op-ed piece that announced his lawsuit. Klein, recalling the incident in detail in an op-ed piece that announced his lawsuit, said he was shocked by the request. “What do you suggest I do with respect to them? A full concession or just half? Also, do you have any idea if any students are from Minneapolis? I assume that they are probably especially devastated as well.
Reinstatement and Fallout
After an investigation of the incident by the school, Klein was reinstated less than three weeks later.Less than three weeks after this whole thing blew up, I was reinstated. But this story is not over. However, the damage was already done. Although Klein was reinstated after three weeks, the highly publicized controversy over the matter devastated his consultancy practice. He claims in the suit that the Anderson School ‘hastily buckled” under the pressure of negative publicity and sought permission from the University to impose disciplinary sanctions, including terminating his employment.
Klein's Lawsuit: Allegations and Damages
A long-time professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management is suing the school alleging that he was wrongly suspended by Anderson Dean Antonio Bernardo last year and that the suspension resulted in loss of most of his consulting income. Klein’s lawsuit alleges the controversy and bad press that surrounded him in June 2020 made him untouchable as a litigation expert. Klein’s attorney, Steve Goldberg, told The College Fix in a telephone interview this week the lion’s share of damages are based on the estimated loss of Klein’s expert witness practice income. “That practice went to ashes right after he was suspended,” said Goldberg with the law firm Markun, Zusman & Compton. “He was one of the top damages experts in the country who was historically bringing in well over $1 million dollars a year and trending upwards when it happened,” Goldberg said. “That cost me the lion’s share of my annual income,” he wrote. “The students involved in this escapade may have moved on to other causes. I have not. His lawsuit against Dean Bernardo and the University of California system, he explains, was filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles.
Klein is demanding well over $19 million in damages, citing breach of contract, retaliation, false light, and negligent interference with prospective earnings. UCLA’s defense appears to center on several points, according to Klein’s 24-page opening statement.
Perspectives and Commentary
Another professor, Eric Rasmusen at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business who has had his own share of controversy, believes Klein would gain a sympathetic ear from a jury if the case goes to trial. In a blog post, Rasmusen notes that Klein “grew up in Detroit, went to public schools, plays keyboard gospel music in black churches, was whistleblower against someone who was trying to reduce the number of poor hispanic students, etc. Play it before a jury, and UCLA is dead meat. I don’t know how much he deserves to collect in money damages from UCLA, but he’d collect 10 times as much, plus punitive damages, and the judge wouldn’t want to remittitur it down to a reasonable level. A year ago, Rasmusen launched an online petition calling for the firing of Dean Bernardo. “In suspending Klein, Dr. Bernardo has shown himself unfit for the job of Dean,” according to the petition.
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Kevin P. stated, "My concern is actually not so much about Klein’s experience, as it is about the apparent submission of the rest of academia all over the country to the kinds of ideological notions that handing a purely contrived and unearned “contextual” grading advantage to any single ethnic group to the detriment of one or more other ethnic groups is OK. Shame on college professors, social media, high tech censorship, and the legions of young woke (regrettably “informed” by these other mind-controlling “co-conspirators”) for perpetrating this - and many other - social reengineering shams under the misguided notion of equity."
Broader Implications
The Gordon Klein case raises important questions about academic freedom, due process, and the influence of social media and public opinion on university decisions. The case also touches upon the debate surrounding equity versus equality, and the potential pitfalls of race-based policies. Klein also offers a parting thought: “This is not just about principle. It’s also about the United States’ ability to compete. Anderson, like elite business schools across the country, is supposed to be training the next generation of innovators. The people who will muster the imagination and fortitude to create life-changing technologies and lead groundbreaking multinationals. If we don’t maintain our standards - if we’re not allowed to push all of our students to do their very best - we will be disarming unilaterally.
Klein's Background and Continued Role at UCLA
Klein, who joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1981, continues to teach as a full-time lecturer there. He has testified, for example, in several high-profile court cases, including Michael Jackson’s wrongful death, Apple’s acquisition of Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones, and the valuation of General Motors’ assets in bankruptcy.
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