Overview
- A federal lawsuit filed Monday in the Southern District of New York says West Point disciplined and then declined to renew the contract of civilian professor Adam Kalkstein after he objected to an order to stop teaching that humans drive climate change.
- The complaint says a September 2025 geography-program meeting told faculty to remove all mention of human-caused warming and warned that public complaints could lead to the department being dissolved.
- Kalkstein alleges he protested the restriction at a November 5, 2025, meeting with then-dean Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves, who abruptly left the session, and that West Point later cited his "poor character and temperament" when refusing to renew his contract.
- In May 2025 Kalkstein agreed to continue as a term employee after his tenured post was eliminated in a workforce reduction, and the suit asks the court to reinstate his tenure, bar the teaching restriction, and award damages.
- West Point says it is aware of the allegations and is taking them seriously, and the case arrives after a May court win for another faculty member that could shape how judges treat academy limits on speech and civilian faculty roles.