As classes resume this week at Moreno Valley College, a dispute continues between school officials and a former professor who says he was wrongly fired in October 2017 and is trying to get his job back.

Attorneys for Eric Thompson, who began teaching there in August 2005, argue that the Riverside Community College District discriminated against the Christian sociology teacher, firing him because he presented conservative views on such topics as same-sex marriage and sexual orientation.

That is ironic, said Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute, because “colleges have long been held as the open marketplace of ideas.” The institute has been defending the professor.

Dacus said by phone recently that attempting to squelch a particular point of view “is very dangerous for the healthy college campus learning experience.”

The district, which runs Moreno Valley College, Riverside City College and Norco College, maintains it welcomes free expression of multiple points of view, but that Thompson tended to present “only one view,” according to court records.

Moreno Valley College President Robin Steinback testified before an arbitrator that she decided to dismiss Thompson after concluding he violated policies that promote diversity and inclusion, and interfered with an investigation by emailing a student who had complained about him. The district’s governing board voted to fire him Oct. 20, 2017, records show.

In October 2018, Ventura arbitrator Stephen Biersmith ruled that a suspension was warranted — but not a dismissal — and ordered Thompson reinstated. The district sued to overturn the decision.

But in July, Riverside Superior Court Judge Chad Firetag upheld the arbitrator’s decision.

Last week, the district board voted to appeal the court ruling, district spokesman Robert Schmidt said. He said that means Thompson won’t be returning to the classroom as students begin their fall semester.

In denying the district’s petition, the judge echoed the arbitrator’s words in writing “what is acceptable academic speech can well be subtle and difficult … and should not be prohibited simply because society finds it offensive or disagreeable.”

Dacus praised the ruling.

“Both the arbitrator and this judge sent a message to this college, and others, that discrimination under the cloak of diversity is not lawful,” he said.

District officials declined comment beyond saying, through a statement, that its board of trustees had authorized an appeal.

According to the district suit, “Between the fall 2013 and spring 2016, Thompson made repeated statements during class that were derogatory to women, including that women who have children should not be out of the home.” He said those things despite knowing many female students were mothers, the suit stated.

The suit also alleged Thompson “regularly made statements” that denigrated the LGBTQ community. He presented “only one view when discussing gender, gender identity or sexual orientation,” the suit said.

In fall 2014, a student reported that Thompson showed a film in class about homosexual-to-heterosexual conversion, the suit stated.

Attorneys for Thompson, in their response, denied those assertions.

Expanding on a specific incident, the district alleged the teacher “directed harsh and embarrassing questions” at a female student during a spring 2015 discussion about oral arguments made to the U.S. Supreme Court concerning same-sex marriage. The woman ended up leaving the class crying, the district suit stated.

Thompson’s attorneys denied he directed harsh questions to her.

“The evidence just did not bear out that this woman was singled out,” Pacific Justice Institute attorney Michael Peffer said by phone.

Peffer said it was appropriate to have a broad, robust discussion about same-sex marriage, which was legalized across the nation a short time later in a landmark June 26, 2015 ruling.

“I think it’s helpful to remember that same-sex marriage wasn’t legal yet when this discussion was happening,” he said.