This is a Kentucky Lantern story republished under Creative Commons. See more from Kentucky Lantern here.
A University of Kentucky law professor is challenging a widespread but controversial definition of antisemitism as he seeks reinstatement to his UK teaching duties in a lawsuit that could reach beyond Kentucky.
Ramsi Woodcock was promoted to assistant professor in June, but then removed the next month from teaching and banned from the law school’s building as UK opened an investigation into allegations of antisemitism against him.
Woodcock sued the university in federal court earlier this month seeking to be returned to his duties as a full-time tenured professor.
His suit also seeks to block UK from using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism in disciplinary proceedings.
Harvard University adopted the definition earlier this year as part of a settlement with the Trump administration, which uses it to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
Kentucky’s public universities and colleges must employ the IHRA definition by January in policies “to combat antisemitism” under a resolution enacted by the legislature and signed by Gov. Andy Beshear earlier this year.
But critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the definition conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel, leading to unconstitutional violations of free speech rights. The definition’s author has said it should not be used to “sacrifice free speech.”
Woodcock is asking a federal court in Kentucky’s Eastern District to block UK’s use of the definition in disciplinary proceedings and to declare the state’s mandated use of the definition in university policies a violation of the First Amendment. He’s also asking the court to order U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon “to refrain from requiring or using the IHRA definition of antisemitism in enforcing Title VI.” Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin as a condition of receiving federal funding.
Lexington attorney Joe Childers is representing Woodcock whose case is supported by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s (FIRE) Faculty Legal Defense Fund. Also representing Woodcock are the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Chicago-based law firm Kapitan Gomaa Law.
UK administrators said they reassigned Woodcock from his teaching duties over the summer after learning of an online petition Woodcock circulated that called for military action against Israel.
In a statement to the Lantern, Woodcock said, “Israel is a colonization project that practices apartheid and is currently committing genocide. The normal response of the international community to colonization, repeated more than 80 times in the 20th century, is to bring the colony to an end. It’s a scandal that the university has been willing to torch our nation’s Constitution to punish me for pointing out that inconvenient fact. Every American scholar has a First Amendment right to oppose Israel. I look forward to continuing to exercise that right and to holding the university to account for violating it.”
Investigation begins
UK President Eli Capilouto in July shared a public message to campus regarding the decision to reassign Woodcock. Capilouto wrote the petition “can be interpreted as antisemitic in accordance with state and federal guidance,” and linked to a definition that cited the IHRA working definition.
Woodcock received notice in a July 22 letter that said the university opened the investigation because of the online petition and after being told he spoke about genocide in Gaza at an academic conference and during another university’s panel discussion. The letter also alleges Woodcock “spammed and are spamming listserves (sic) … with your personal viewpoints concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The letter says four professors who said they heard him speak at academic conferences or were on the Listservs reported the statements.
An amended letter sent in September said four students “some of whom are Jewish” also notified UK that Woodcock in his official capacity was calling “for violence against Israel, the genocide of Israeli people who are predominantly Jewish, and the ultimate destruction of Israel.” One report alleged Woodcock made “anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli remarks during an optional lecture,” while another said he shouted “Free Palestine” while in a car with UK law students.
Woodcock’s complaint says he does not talk about his conclusions regarding Palestine and Israel “in his classes because he did not want to cause students to face persecution for speaking about Palestine.” The complaint did say that Woodcock began sharing his views in early 2024 “in all of the ways in which a scholar would be expected to share research conclusions about how to stop a genocide,” such as presenting conclusions during a faculty research seminar, sending emails to the faculty Listserv and speaking at conferences.
UK records requested by the Lantern also show that several of Woodcock’s colleagues within the College of Law, including former acting Dean Paul Salamanca, recommended him for tenure as an assistant professor and wrote letters on his behalf in early 2025. The UK Board of Trustees approved Woodcock for promotion in June.
Woodcock was hired by UK in 2018. His academic research focuses on law and economics from a wealth-distributive perspective, including how it relates to antitrust law. In addition to his professorship in the law college, he has a secondary appointment to UK’s Gatton College of Business and Economics.
UK hired an outside attorney to lead the investigation in Woodcock’s conduct. Farnaz Farkish Thompson, a partner of McGuire Woods based in Richmond, Virginia, is listed as a contributor to Project 2025, which was created as a guiding document for the Trump administration leading up to the 2024 presidential election. Among its goals for the U.S. presidency, the document calls for supporting Israel.
In an August 22 letter to Thompson, one of Woodcock’s attorneys questioned whether she can “be an unbiased neutral’ in conducting the investigation, citing her political partisanship and a profile of her by the Christian Broadcasting Network in which she talks about her decision to go to Regent University Law School, founded by the late evangelist Pat Robertson, who taught that Christians have a divine responsibility to support Israel.
The Trump administration has taken a hard line on alleged antisemitism on college campuses, investigating and penalizing numerous universities, including for incidents stemming from pro-Palestinian protests as Israel, with U.S. support, waged war on Gaza to eradicate Hamas after its deadly surprise attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
University response
UK spokesman Jay Blanton said in a statement to the Lantern that Woodcock had been reassigned duties pending an ongoing investigation.
“First, people in this country have the right to express themselves. That is not in question,” Blanton said. “But the university has the right to express itself as well. We have. What was expressed is repugnant and President Capilouto, on behalf of UK, said so.”
Blanton then added that, under federal law, “if someone’s views as stated threaten the safety and well-being of the university’s students and staff, we are obligated to act to protect our community and our people.” The ongoing investigation is “entirely appropriate and consistent with institutional norms and past practices.”
UK’s view of academic freedom “is that our faculty have a right to speak about their research and scholarship within their area of expertise,” Blanton said.
“That right, however, doesn’t extend to creating a hostile environment for people,” he continued. “That is the question that has been raised. And that is what an investigation, from an expert, outside counsel, will help the university determine.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Education did not return a request for comment.
This article appears in Nov. 1-30, 2025.