Arkansas rescinds dean job offer USC law professor over transgender views
Just days after announcing her as the new dean of its School of Law, the University of Arkansas has rescinded its offer to a University of South Carolina employee over her views on transgender athletes.
Emily Suski, a professor of law and associate dean for strategic and institutional priorities in the Joseph F. Rice School of Law, was announced as dean last week, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
“The university has decided to go a different direction in filling the vacancy,” according to a statement from the University of Arkansas. “University officials are very grateful for Professor Suski’s interest in the position and continue to hold Professor Suski in high regard. We wish Professor Suski well as she moves forward with her career.”
The university cited “feedback from key external stakeholders.” Members of the Arkansas state legislature told The New York Times that it was related to Suski’s signature of an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court last year in support of transgender student athletes.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that next steps in selecting a law school dean are “not determined at this time.”
FIRE, a fire amendment advocacy group called the capitulation to political pressure “shameful,” and a threat to “the rights of all who teach, study, and work there.”
“The message to every dean, professor, and researcher is unmistakable: Your job hinges on whether politicians approve of your views,” FIRE Legal Director Will Creeley said in a statement. “Political interference in academic decisionmaking must be rejected. When universities make hiring decisions based on politics, left or right, academic freedom gets weaker and campuses grow quieter.”
Suski, is an expert in education law, especially Title IX and civil rights in public schools, as well as health and poverty law. Along with her current role at USC, she served as the associate dean of clinics and externships for several years, during which she expanded the number of clinics, clinical faculty and staff supporting the clinics. She also founded USC’s Carolina Health Advocacy Medicolegal Partnership.
She was previously on faculty at the Georgia State University College of Law, where she taught family law, a lecturer at the University of Virginia School of Law and a clinical teaching fellow at Georgetown University Law Center. She holds degrees from the University of North Carolina.
This story was originally published January 15, 2026 at 10:00 AM.
