Judge Says Hurricane Researcher’s Lawsuit Against Louisiana State U. May Proceed

A federal district judge ruled today that the case of the former Louisiana State University hurricane researcher Ivor Van Heerden, who alleges he lost his job for criticizing the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, will move forward. The decision comes five months after the same judge, James J. Brady, dismissed Mr. Van Heerden’s claim that he qualified for “de facto tenure” protection at the university, where he held a renewable contract position for 15 years before it was eliminated, in 2009. In his ruling today, Judge Brady wrote that LSU may have violated state law by attempting to suppress Mr. Van Heerden’s opinions about the failures of the Army Corps of Engineers before and after the 2005 storm. Since it began, in 2009, the dispute between LSU and Mr. Van Heerden has prompted an investigation by the American Association of University Professors and prompted the LSU faculty to seriously consider unionization.