Former San Antonio professor says he was fired over newspaper op-ed

A former University of Texas at San Antonio professor has sued school officials in federal court, alleging he was fired in 2021 for publishing an Express-News op-ed critical of his department's credit requirements. UTSA disputes that claim, however, arguing in a court filing that Bruce Smith, a tenured professor in the school's engineering program, was terminated over poor performance and a failure to meet requirements laid out in a performance-improvement plan, or PIP. The university also began discussions about removing Smith months before the op-ed was published, officials allege.