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Published in The News-Gazette on March 4, 2025
OPINION: JIM DEY
In the summer of 2020, an assistant football coach at Illinois State University committed an unforgivable sin. He taped aposter to his office door that read: "All Lives Matter to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
In ordinary times, an expression of God's love would have been innocuous — embraced by some, rejected by others, ignored by most.
But that August, George Floyd fever was sweeping the nation.
After Floyd's murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer, businesses, universities and organizations all across the country got on board the Black Lives Matter movement, including ISU's athletic department.
It printed athletic posters that read, "ILLINOIS STATE ATHLETICS -#BLACK- LIVESMATTER"
Needless to say, the message of unconditional love sent by Beathard, the team's veteran offensive coordinator and a former Fighting Illini assistant, didn't go down well.
First, head coach Brock Spack asked Beathard to remove the sign. Next, he informed Beathard that he "was in trouble because of that message." Third, Beathard was stripped of his offensive coordinator position, Spack explaining he didn't like "the direction of the offense."
Finally, Beathard was out of a job when his contract expired.
Beathard subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against ISU that alleged "he was discharged ... as a result of personal speech, protected by the First Amendment, that he had posted on the door to his office."
Named as defendants were Spack and athletic director Larry Lyons.
Ironically, Lyons later fell victim to the same contagion that consumed Beathard. He submitted ashotgun resignation just weeks later after "a Zoom address to ISU athletes regarding (a threatened boycott of practices) where he said, "All (ISU) Redbird Lives Matter."
"That only fanned the flames of discontent, and Lyons announced his retirement the following month," a federal court observed.
Beathard's lawsuit now is entangled in procedural issues in federal court.
Last week, a three-judge panel from Chicago's7th Circuit Court of Appeals declined ISU's request to dismiss the case and sent it back to Peoria U.S. Judge James Shadid for further review.
The case reflects longstanding principles of constitutional law — free speech enshrined by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment and controversial judge-made law that grants "qualified immunity" to state actors who cross the legal line.
ISU contends that Spack and Lyons are shielded from litigation by the legal principle that grants government officials performing discretionary functions immunity from lawsuits. The principle shields wrongdoers from "damages unless the plaintiff shows that the official violated 'clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.'"
Announced in a1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision, qualified immunity was created to protect "law-enforcement officials from frivolous lawsuits and financial liability in cases where they acted in good faith in unclear legal situations." It has, however, been criticized as a legal tool that can be used to protect public officials who violate others' civil rights.
Spack and Lyons contend they are immune because it was not "clear to them in the fall of 2020 that Beathard's speech was protected as personal rather than official speech."
Shadid denied the motion to dismiss because he said the facts of what occurred are insufficiently clear to justify dismissal. ISU appealed to the 7th circuit, but Justice Ilana Rovner, writing for a unanimous court, sided with Shadid.
She said the "fact-intensive nature of the claim means that resolution of a qualified-immunity defense must await factual development," as found by the trial judge.
So back it goes, unless the parties decide to settle the case to avoid the further costs of litigation.
Jim Dey is a staff writer for The News-Gazette. His email is jdey@ news-gazette.com.
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