UNCW professor Mike Adams was back in court last week. The associate criminology professor’s lawsuit against the university for denying him a promotion to full professor went to Federal Appeals Court in Richmond, Va., last Wednesday, Jan. 26.

“I felt a lot better this time,” Adams said. “Yeah, I think I’m going to win this time.”

Adams’ case against the university is no new matter. It began in 2006, when Adams was denied promotion to full professorship. Last April The Seahawk reported that Adams’ performance as an associate professor was reviewed many times from 1993 to 2004. Adams said that he was given “nothing less than marks of excellence.” He also won the 1998 UNCW Professor of the Year and the 2000 Faculty Member of the Year awards. Adams said the he couldn’t help but think that “the powers at UNCW are punishing me for my public criticism of the diversity movement.”

Adams’ “public criticism” involves his column at the conservative website, www.townhall.com.

In March of 2010, a federal court rejected Adams’ claim that UNCW had committed viewpoint discrimination when denying him the promotion to full professor. The university’s motion to dismiss the suit was accepted. However, Adams appealed the case, taking it to the Federal Appeals Court last week.

Last March, Judge Malcolm J. Howard said that Adams did not prove that the university denied him the promotion based only on his Christian and conservative views. Adams’ views were expressed through his online columns, and they were not to be considered protected by his work-related freedom of speech. However, Adams did include the columns in his portfolio with the application for promotion. The decision referenced a 2006 Supreme Court case, Garcetti v. Ceballos. But Adams said that he felt like that was a broad reading of the Garcetti v. Ceballos case.

WWAY reported that UNCW attorney, Tom Zacho, said Adams cannot complain about his online columns being judged when he was the one who submitted them to the university for evaluation.

For this lawsuit, Adams is working with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance dedicated to defending religious freedom.

“If we [Adams and the ADF] don’t win this time, you can be reasonably confident that we’ll take UNCW to the Supreme Court,” Adams said.

Currently, there is no specific date for the courts’ decision about the appeal; although Adams said that he expects it could take up to three months.

“It’s not just about me,” Adams said. “This decision could affect so many people.”

Adams also said that he’s ready for the lawsuit to be over. “I don’t like fighting for my rights,” he said. “I like fighting for students’ rights.”