Students attending a business law class at Kean University in 2016 thought they'd be learning about legal situations in the workplace. Little did they know that they'd be the spark for an ongoing case that could well become its own teaching point.
After nine years of bites at the legal apple, former professor Cheryl Borowski may have seen her path to relief closed off. On July 1, 2025, U.S. District Court Judge William Martini denied her motion to file an amended complaint with prejudice. This ended a long and winding path of litigation for Borowski that passed through both state and federal courtrooms before being dismissed.
Trying to get the New Jersey State Workplace Policy ruled as unconstitutional may prove to be the final unsuccessful step of Borowski's lengthy free speech lawsuit against Kean University. While appealing the ruling is a possibility, it's unknown if Borowski plans to continue.
Guessing Tenure Wasn't Going To Be on the Table Anyway
In 2016, Borowski was in her fifth year of teaching a business law class as an adjunct professor at the Kean University campus in Toms River, New Jersey. According to her complaint, she was taking the position of presenting controversial stances on workplace discrimination examples during a class in May. By her account, these included questioning whether a pregnant woman could be fired for not being as productive as a man and other instances she hoped would inspire critical thinking and lively debate from her class.
Whether her students proved unexpectedly sensitive to her teaching methods or Borowski left more damning examples of her approach out of her recap, the class was upset enough to file a complaint with Kean University administration. Several students claimed Borowski made numerous offensive comments concerning ethnicity, religion, gender, and immigration.
After an internal investigation, the school determined that Borowski's comments violated the New Jersey State Prohibited Discrimination Workplace Policy (SWP). Although she was paid for the remainder of the semester, she was informed that due to her workplace violation, she would not be offered any further contracts.
Borowski attempted to appeal the decision, but an Administrative Law Judge ruled that as an adjunct professor, she lacked standing to do so. This was later confirmed by the Civil Service Commission in November 2018.
Having already shifted her sights to federal court, Borowski suffered another setback when her suit was tossed based on Younger v. Harris. The Younger abstention doctrine holds that federal courts should not hear cases that have matters pending in state court. She gained new life in 2023 when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the lower court had misapplied the Younger doctrine.
Alas, things didn't fare much better for Borowski in the district courts. Her original complaint was dismissed in February 2024, and the first attempt at an amended complaint met a similar fate in January 2025. Despite adding only two paragraphs to the amended complaint, Borowski filed again with her sights set on proving the SWP was unconstitutional.
Three Strikes, You're Out
While adding that her dismissal by Kean had caused harm to her professional reputation, Borowski focused on proving the SWP was unconstitutional in her second amended complaint. Her suit claimed that it was neither content nor viewpoint neutral, had unconstitutionally vague provisions, and was overbroad.
None of Borowski's assertions landed with Judge Martini. He ruled that the SWP's forbidding of discriminatory or harassing language in the workplace was not protected by the First Amendment. Examples given in the SWP evaporated any claims of vagueness. Martini also deemed the SWP as "indisputably legitimate" as a tool to eradicate discriminatory employment practices.
The additional two paragraphs also failed to resonate. Kean University didn't make the information in its investigation into Borowski public, thus making claims of harm to her professional career spurious.
Related Resources
- Appealing a Court Decision of Judgment (FindLaw's Filing a Lawsuit)
- State Employment Laws (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)
- Teachers' Rights: Tenure and Dismissal (FindLaw's Teachers' Rights)
