Imagine being a college professor and still not having the maturity to stop crying over a Trump flag. It’s just another case study for TDS.
A former New Jersey community college student is suing his school after a professor allegedly called him a racist in front of his entire online class and had him booted from the session, all because he had a Trump 2020 flag in his Zoom background. Justin Caiazzo, of the Lake Hiawatha section of Parsippany, filed the lawsuit against Passaic County Community College in Morris County state court on September 23, claiming his free speech rights were violated during a summer 2021 business statistics class.
According to the lawsuit, professor Gladys Harris ordered Caiazzo to remove the flag during class. When he declined, she called him a racist in front of his classmates and had him removed from that day’s session. A Trump flag in a Zoom window. That was the hill somebody chose to die on.
Frozen Out, Then Cornered by Administrators
The drama did not stop there. When Caiazzo logged back in for the next class on July 13, 2021, he alleges Harris froze him out entirely, never calling on him even as he repeatedly raised his hand, and instead directed him to go on tutor.com. Harris allegedly then refused to discuss the incident with him any further. Nothing says “I am confident in my position” quite like refusing to talk about it ever again.
Caiazzo brought his complaint to college administrators, who held a hearing. The resolution they offered him was, by any measure, generous: stay in the class as things stood, or accept an F. Faced with that inspiring menu of options, Caiazzo withdrew from the course and Trump flag Zoom class dispute eventually completed the same statistics class at William Paterson University in Wayne. Passaic County Community College did not respond to a request for comment.
The First Amendment Does Not Have a “But I Found It Offensive” Exception
Because PCCC is a public institution, its faculty and administrators act under color of state law and are bound by the First Amendment. Under the Supreme Court’s 1969 ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines, public schools cannot censor passive political symbols unless they cause a material and substantial disruption to class operations. A flag sitting quietly in a Zoom background does not appear to have started any riots.
New Jersey colleges have been down this road before. In August 2020, Stockton University in Galloway faced First Amendment scrutiny after charging a doctoral student with conduct violations over a Trump Zoom background. That case ended with the university dropping the primary charges after pressure from civil rights advocates. You would think that story might have made its way around the faculty lounge circuit by the summer of 2021. Apparently not everywhere.
Caiazzo is seeking damages and attorney’s fees under the New Jersey Civil Rights Act, a state-level mirror of federal Section 1983 claims, which allows individuals to sue for First Amendment violations by those acting under color of state law. Notably, PCCC’s own conduct guidelines state that nothing in its anti-harassment procedures should be construed to limit the legitimate exercise of free speech. So the school’s own rulebook appears to be on Caiazzo’s side, which is a fun detail. Meanwhile, Caiazzo has landed on William Paterson University’s Dean’s List for both the Spring 2025 and Fall 2025 semesters. The kid who was told to go on tutor.com is making the Dean’s List. You genuinely cannot write a better ending than that.
