KY Attorney General defends UK’s investigation of suspended law professor
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman said the University of Kentucky has the right to suspend and investigate a professor for remarks he made about Israel last year, according to a legal brief filed Tuesday.
Ramsi Woodcock, a law professor who was suspended July 18 for using speech President Eli Capilouto described as hateful and repugnant, has sued the university and asked to be allowed to return to the classroom. U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves denied Woodcock’s request Jan. 8 and instead granted a motion from UK to put proceedings in the lawsuit on hold while the university investigation is ongoing.
Woodcock then filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, asking for the order to be reversed and an injunction issued, which would allow him to teach this spring semester.
In Coleman’s brief filed Tuesday, he wrote that under Senate Joint Resolution 55 adopted in 2025, which was in response to reports of antisemitism on college campuses, free speech protected by the First Amendment does not prevent UK from investigating Woodcock.
“There’s no place for antisemitism in the Commonwealth, especially on Kentucky’s college campuses. Universities exist to encourage and expand the minds of their students, not to spread fear, exclusion or violence,” said Attorney General Coleman in a news release. “While UK continues to investigate these loathsome statements, our Office will continue defending the law.”
Woodcock has openly shared his views on Palestine and the Gaza war at conferences and online since February 2024. He circulated a petition last summer calling for the end of the Israeli nation and in support of Palestine. Shortly after, UK announced that Woodcock had been suspended and an external investigation had begun.
He was removed from the classroom and banned from the J. David Rosenberg College of Law building during the investigation. None of the accusations leading to the investigation were related to Woodcock’s teaching or interactions with students, according to Woodcock and his lawyers.
“Although the First Amendment safeguards vibrant — even heated — discussions about Israel at public universities, the First Amendment does not prohibit UK from investigating Woodcock for creating a hostile environment for Jewish students and temporarily reassigning his duties with full pay during that investigation,” Coleman wrote in the brief.
“To begin with, Woodcock has not suffered an adverse employment action — at least not yet. Based on the undisputed testimony given below, Woodcock’s temporary reassignment pending investigation is UK’s standard protocol when there is a claim of a hostile environment,” Coleman continued in the brief.
Woodcock has argued that his speech regarding Palestine is protected and the university’s investigation is unconstitutional. When UK suspended Woodcock in July, Capiluto said the comments “can be interpreted as antisemitic in accordance with state and federal guidance.”
Coleman also wrote that Capilouto was “well within his rights to tell the UK community that Woodcock’s statements ‘if accurately attributed, are repugnant.’”
While the First Amendment allows Woodcock to make statements about Israel, the investigation “does not automatically violate the First Amendment,” he wrote.
“If after its investigation UK decides that Woodcock’s anti-Israel speech amounted to misconduct and disciplines him, Woodcock is free to reassert his First Amendment claim then. The First Amendment, however, does not require stopping UK’s ongoing hostile-environment investigation,” Coleman wrote.