William Felkner is a self-described conservative libertarian. He was also an aspiring social worker. William’s philosophical and political ideas are a rarity in that field. Rather than engage with William’s minority viewpoints in good faith, professors at Rhode Island College were actively hostile telling William he wasn’t “cut out” to be a social worker because his views were not mainstream. They subjected him to discriminatory grading, initiated disciplinary action against him, and even compelled him to mouth agreement with social policies he did not support. RIC even imposed requirements that William actually lobby state legislators to pass bills he thought were terrible ideas. All of this eventually drove William out of the graduate program. When William sued RIC for violating his First Amendment rights, the Rhode Island Supreme Court agreed he had been unjustly treated. And yet, the state’s high court gave the college a free pass. Why? Two words: qualified immunity. The doctrine o...