A First Amendment lawsuit against the University of North Texas (UNT) brought by a math professor who was fired for mocking the concept of “microaggressions” may proceed, a federal district judge ruled. Judge Sean D. Jordan, a Trump appointee, wrote that the case would boil down to a single question: “What can a public employee say, and what can he choose not to say, without fear of reprisal from his employer?” The case stemmed from a November 2019 incident, when someone anonymously left a stack of flyers warning about “microaggressions” in the UNT mathematics department’s faculty lounge. Nathaniel Hiers, an adjunct professor at the time, read through the leaflets and jokingly wrote on a nearby chalkboard, “Don’t leave garbage lying around,” with an arrow pointing to the stack. The flyer, according to the complaint (pdf), discourages the use of certain apparently innocuous and non-threatening expressions to avoid these so-called microaggressions. …