The following was published on October 14, 2025 and is reprinted from the Workers’ Voice website.
By JOHN LESLIE
Dr. Tom Alter, a respected and tenured university professor, was fired by Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse on Sept. 10 for expressing his political views during an online socialist conference. His participation as a member of Socialist Horizon was unrelated to his role as an educator and done on his own time—not under the auspices of the university. The supposed grounds for his dismissal were allegations that Dr. Alter had advocated violence during his talk; the claim was made by a self-described fascist, Karlyn Borysenko, who doctored the video taken of Dr. Alter’s talk.
After the initial firing, a judge ruled that the university had violated Dr. Alter’s due process rights and ordered him reinstated. Alter was “reinstated,” but barred from teaching until a hearing had been held. The hearing took place on Oct. 6, but the university waited until Oct. 13 to tell Dr. Alter that he was permanently terminated.
This is a flagrant violation of Alter’s First Amendment rights. In the days following Dr. Alter’s initial firing, a network of labor and socialist activists formed the Committee to Defend Tom Alter, with the purpose of fighting for his job and protecting his right to free speech.
Supporters of the Committee to Defend Tom Alter are committed to building the broadest possible defense of his democratic rights by including labor, faith communities, and student organizations in a fight that affects all of us. The state is banking on fear to keep us quiet. If Tom’s firing goes unchallenged, anyone targeted by the state can be victimized and marginalized.
Following the announcement of his firing on Oct. 13, Dr. Alter issued this statement: “I stand in opposition to Texas State University’s attack on democratic rights that are protected by the Texas and United States Constitutions as well as the academic freedom that was once the hallmark of Texas higher education.
“To be clear, my termination is part of a broader political attack being carried out by the authoritarian far-right to crush democracy and democratic institutions in the United States in general and Texas in particular. But the charges leveled against me by the Texas State University administration do not stand up to the facts; I have truth on my side and I look forward to my day in court.
“My termination, in clear violation of my First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, association, and of assembly, brings shame, embarrassment and a heavy blow to the academic reputation of Texas State University. This hurts not only faculty, staff, current students and alumni but the San Marcos community as well.
“This fight did not start with me, and it does not end with me. I want to thank my unions, the Texas State Employees Union, American Association of University Professors, and Texas-AFT; the broad coalition of democratic rights supporters in the Committee to Defend Tom Alter; the Texas State chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America; Socialist Horizon; and all those who value basic democracy.”
A statement from the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) was quoted in the University Star, a campus newspaper: “In a deeply troubling move that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment, Damphousse has upheld the termination of Dr. Tom Alter, a tenured history professor, after a coerced and fundamentally flawed due process hearing.”
This campaign comes in the context of a generalized attack on democratic rights by the Trump administration, including a new McCarthyism on campuses, a frenzy of union busting unlike anything seen since the Reagan era, the threatened suppression of progressive social movements, and a marked increase in the size and scope of the state’s repressive apparatus.
The rise of the far right and increasing anti-democratic actions of the state are a function of the multi-pronged crisis of the capitalist system—the lingering capitalist economic crisis, a profound political crisis, and the growing competition between the U.S. and rising imperialist powers that coincides with the loss of U.S. hegemony on the world stage. All of this is compounded by the looming climate catastrophe. It’s in this context that a section of the ruling class has decided that liberal democracy is an inconvenience and dispensable.
Defense policy
The U.S. left has a long history of building defense campaigns for victims of state repression. From the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to the communist and socialist movements, the left has stood up to repression with unconditional solidarity and an unflinching commitment to preserving the democratic rights that our forbearers fought and died for. As we wrote elsewhere, “If members of any organization or social movement—from Black Lives Matter, to the labor movement, to anti-fascists, to left political organizations—are targeted for repression, violence, or spying, we must stand together in solidarity regardless of any political or tactical differences.”
Socialist Workers Party writer and educator George Novack wrote, “Let me summarize the fundamental features of defense policy which the pioneers of our movement worked out and which have guided all our subsequent activities and achievements.
“The democratic, constitutional and legal rights of the American people are the most valuable political acquisitions of their past struggles. Socialists must staunchly uphold these indispensable instruments of the workers’ struggle for emancipation against any encroachment, assault or erosion by the forces of reaction. A strong defense of existing rights is the best way of extending them.”
Socialists defend the democratic rights of all victims of the U.S. capitalist system and its state apparatus. This does not mean that we have illusions in their Constitution or the capitalist government’s rhetoric about democracy and freedom. We know that their concept of freedom does not really extend to the working class and oppressed. However, we have to use whatever scant protections the veneer of democratic rights in the U.S. offers us to defend our right to speak, organize, and fight. This is why we must defend one another against repression unconditionally and regardless of political differences. Once again, we raise the old labor slogan: “An injury to one is an injury to all.”
Tom Alter’s attorneys are filing a lawsuit, but we know that lawsuits alone will not preserve our freedoms. It is what we do every day in our organizations and in the streets that will make a difference.
What you can do
There are several concrete steps that you can take to join the fight for Dr. Tom Alter’s democratic rights. First, you can sign the statement issued by the Committee to Defend Tom Alter. If there is a local defense committee in your area, join it and help out. Take Tom’s case into your faith community, union, or student organization and ask them to endorse the campaign. If you can, make a donation to help Tom Alter and his family pay for their basic living expenses while we take this fight forward. Post about Tom’s case on social media and follow our Instagram page. Finally, you can email or call Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse at president@txstate.edu or 512-245-2121.
We demand:
Reinstate Dr. Tom Alter now!
No to the new McCarthyism!
Defend free speech and all democratic rights!
Protect academic freedom!
