A Tulane University researcher and environmental advocate who studied racial disparities in health impacts from Louisiana’s petrochemical industry resigned on Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who believed her work had made elected officials “embarrassed and uncomfortable.”

Kimberly Terrell, who served as director of community engagement for the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, accused the university of putting her under a “gag order” and sacrificing academic freedom to appease state officials. She also alleged that Tulane was prioritizing securing funding from the state for a high-priced redevelopment of New Orleans’ Charity Hospital over her own academic freedom. 

“Scholarly publications, not gag orders, are the currency of academia,” Terrell wrote in her resignation letter. “Tulane leaders have chosen to abandon the principles of knowledge, education, and the greater good in pursuit of their own narrow agenda.”

Terrell’s resignation was first reported by the Associated Press. 

Tulane disputed Terrell’s description of the circumstances surrounding her resignation. A spokesman for Gov. Jeff Landry said he never threatened to withhold funding, though the governor’s office appreciated Tulane “standing up for our Louisiana businesses and jobs.” 

Emails and an audio recording indicate chatter around Terrell’s work emerged at Tulane Day at the Capitol in Baton Rouge on April 16 — a celebration of the university’s contributions to the state’s economy and an opportunity to pitch its Charity Hospital project. The formerly state-run hospital in downtown New Orleans has been vacant since Hurricane Katrina, an eyesore on the city’s skyline. 

While Tulane’s leaders were at the Capitol, news outlets, including The Times-Picayune, published stories about Terrell’s most recent peer-reviewed study, which found that, while poor and Black communities bear the brunt of the health risks associated with petrochemical pollution, people of color were underrepresented in the industry’s workforce. 

About 10 days later, Tulane’s law school dean Marcilynn A. Burke said in an email to Terrell that “all external communications that are not client-based—that is, directly related to representation—must be pre-approved by me.” Terrell linked to the emails in her statement. 

In an audio recording obtained by The Times-Picayune said to be of Tulane Provost Robin Forman, Terrell was told the timing of her study was “bad.”

“This ripple went through the crowd, that Tulane has taken a stand that the chemical industry is harming communities, which left people feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable,” the person identified as Forman said in the recording. 

The person identified as Forman suggested that “gag order” was too strong a term for the restrictions placed on Terrell’s speech, and stressed instead that they had placed a “pause” on her communications until questions around her role and job description could be resolved. 

Terrell alleged in her resignation letter that Landry threatened to veto funding for the Charity Hospital redevelopment unless Tulane curtailed the environmental law clinic’s work. 

“Gov. Landry did not threaten to withhold state funding,” said Landry spokesperson Kate Kelly. “However, I applaud Tulane for their actions — standing up for our Louisiana businesses and jobs.” 

Still, university leadership appeared to believe that the law clinic’s work was proving detrimental to the approval of the $650 million redevelopment project. In a May 4 email, Burke wrote that “elected officials and major donors have cited the clinic as an impediment to them lending their support to the university generally and for this project specifically.” 

The university stressed that it is committed to academic freedom and the value of law clinics. 

“Debates about how best to operate law clinics’ teaching mission have occurred nationally and at Tulane for years — this is nothing new,” said Tulane spokesperson Mike Strecker. “We do not comment on personnel matters, including the resignation of staff employees.”

Tim Cain, a fellow at the American Association of University Professors’ Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, said in an interview that Tulane’s actions appear to “fly in the face of principles of academic freedom.” The University of Georgia professor of higher education said that “without the ability to communicate results of academic research, the research may as well have been shut down.”

He added that higher education institutions have also been pressured on the federal level with threats to research funding and various executive orders, including some that target diversity initiatives. That has prompted some academics to self-censor their work for fear of retribution, he noted.

Terrell published work that community activists have described as crucial in exposing health and jobs disparities in the petrochemical corridor often referred to as “Cancer Alley,” and The Times-Picayune has regularly covered her research. 

One of her studies found that Black communities near industrial plants were exposed to 21 times more toxic air emissions than other areas. She also found that pregnant women in areas with high levels of air pollution were more likely to have underweight and premature babies. 

“I never imagined that, after seven years of high-profile success, my program would be gutted to appease elected officials and major donors who view the clinic’s work as an ‘impediment’ to their interests,” she wrote in the letter. “I cannot remain silent as this university sacrifices academic integrity for political appeasement and pet projects. Our work is too important, and the stakes are too high, to sit back and watch special interests replace scholarship with censorship.”