Court backs University of Memphis in firing tenured professor for misconduct

Nordbye used a racial slur in class without providing educational context. He sent a student an email that his supervisor described as a veiled threat about the student’s future career prospects. A second student reported feeling humiliated by Nordbye’s treatment – prompting other faculty to take the unusual step of advising the student to file a formal grievance. He silk-screened messages onto campus walls, damaging state property. He taped images of firearms to campus buildings overnight, alarming custodial staff who discovered them the next morning. He was involved in two separate confrontations in the on-campus Subway restaurant – one a shouting match with a student that required his supervisor to break up, and another in which he yelled at students to stop eating there. During a fire drill, he refused to move away from the building as directed by a colleague and instructed students to ignore the order. 

He repeatedly failed to complete basic duties. He once neglected to hire an instructor before the semester started, leaving students in a classroom with no professor. He failed to recruit models for a drawing class and blamed a graduate student. He brought unpreserved bird remains into class without following safety protocols and resisted compliance when confronted, arguing the remains posed no risk. 

Nordbye was arrested on campus outside his classroom in front of students on a domestic assault charge that was later dismissed. When a second warrant was issued the following month, he taught his class anyway and disclosed the warrant to students. He then refused to let a substitute take over, insisting he would attend and co-teach, which led to the classes being cancelled entirely. He used his university email to threaten a student with legal action over satirical stickers. He overslept a meeting scheduled to discuss his own performance evaluation and, when called, responded angrily and hung up. 

Student evaluations were consistently damning. Students described his classroom manner as immature and unbearable, reported that classmates cried during critiques, and said he would arrive to class without a plan or spend time discussing television shows and cats. On a day set aside for reviewing student work, the class instead hauled a cherry picker up a flight of stairs and made carrot juice. 

The university responded with interventions that HR professionals will recognize. Nordbye was assigned a faculty mentor – a step that was unprecedented for a tenured professor at the institution in 25 years. A performance improvement plan was developed. Neither produced lasting results. The mentor eventually resigned, warning Nordbye’s supervisor not to meet with him alone. When presented with the improvement plan, Nordbye dismissed it as irrelevant to him.