The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is facing a lawsuit that claims it's violating the First Amendment.

The suit filed by its own law professor, Tim Bakken, alleges the academy is banning professors from expressing opinions in the classroom,

and demanding they seek approval to speak publicly.

Bakken, who is the longest serving law professor in West Point's history, says this crackdown undermines

free speech and academic freedom. He's now seeking class action status on behalf of his fellow

faculty. Tim Bakken joins us now in an exclusive interview. He is in New York City. Thank you for being

with us. You're welcome. Thanks, Jeff. Professor Bakken, you have argued that West Point went beyond what President Trump and the Pentagon

directed on issues of diversity, race, and gender, imposing restrictions that were never actually

required.

What exactly did West Point do that, in your view, crosses the line?

My focus is on a regulation that West Point created in February of this

year that requires professors if they're naming their employer, they indicate who they work for,

then they have to seek approval of department heads at West Point. To me, that's contrary to the notion of

freedom of expression. In fact, professors are hired specifically to teach, speak, and write

according to their conscience. And if they have to submit what they're speaking or writing or

teaching about to someone else, then we wouldn't really know what they truly believe.

And as a result, people would trust each other less.

And certainly from the perspective of anybody who's a teacher, we'd have less knowledge produced

both in the classroom and outside of the classroom in the public arena.

And that's the least of what we want from our public servants,

our public employees, and certainly our public teachers. Tell me more about that, because the lawsuit

says that West Point is barring professors from expressing their opinions in class. Give us a

...