Pro-Vax LSU Prof. Quits before New Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry 'Fires' Him

A prominent leftwing professor resigned his tenured position at Louisiana State University after Pelican State voters elected Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry as their next governor—ending a feud that began over mandatory COVID-19 vaccines at the school at a Dec. 7, 2021, LSU Faculty Senate meeting.

Professor Robert Mann, LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communications chairman, X-posted Sunday: “I have this morning informed my dean that I will step down from my position at LSU at the end of the school year.”

The former press secretary for Democratic senators Russell Long and John Breaux and former Democratic governor Kathleen Blanco said he was making things easier for everyone involved.

“My reasons are simple: The person who will be governor in January has already asked LSU to fire me,” he said. “I have no confidence the leadership of this university would protect the Manship School against a governor’s efforts to punish me and other faculty members.”

At that Faculty Senate meeting, professors were debating whether to establish a vaccine mandate at the school when Assistant Attorney General Lauryn Sudduth arrived to read a letter from Landry opposed to the mandate.

Something about Sudduth, an LSU undergraduate and law school alumna, set off the professor, so he went to Twitter and called Sudduth a "flunkie.”

Louisiana AG Jeff Landry sending some flunkie to the LSU Faculty Senate meeting today to read a letter attacking covid vaccines is quite the move from a guy who considers himself "pro-life."
— Robert Mann (@RTMannJr) December 8, 2021

Landry responded with a Dec. 9, 2021, letter to LSU President William F. Tate IV, but despite Mann’s pleas to the contrary, Landry did not call on Tate to fire the professor.

Instead, Landry pointed out that Mann failed to meet the standard in the LSU Faculty Handbook. "It is clear that Chair Mann's intent was to mock, insult, or belittle this accomplished alumna."

Here is the official letter @AGJeffLandry sent to LSU President @WFTate4, concerning tenured #LSU professor @RTMannJr’s tweet. #lalege pic.twitter.com/Jl08ym1lZp
— Lester Duhé (@LesterDuhe) December 9, 2021

Mann presents himself as a defender of academic freedom, but Landry’s issue was his inappropriate Tweet, which insulted a member of his staff.

As Landry wrote to Tate:

I feel obligated to alert you—the President of the University—this lack of professional decorum. I feel confident that this is not the treatment you want LSU alumna to receive from high-ranking faculty.

Mann told The Chronicle of Higher Education he was not worried about losing his job or tenure, but rather the other retribution Landry might bring:

I had been thinking that this would be necessary since Landry came after me in December of '21. I thought at the time if a presumptive governor could call the president and demand that LSU punish me for a tweet, what punishment might an actual governor impose? I never really spent a whole lot of time worrying about my tenure being not sufficient, because I think it’d be really difficult to take my tenure away. I just didn’t want to be the reason that Landry hurt LSU or my department.

Landry had not commented directly on Mann’s resignation, but he did block Mann from his X account.

The professor received support on social media from former students and his peers, but not everyone is sad to see him go.