The American Civil Liberties Union is taking the University of Hawai'i to court over its attempts to ban a professor from communicating with his colleagues and students.

Michael D'Andrea, a professor in the Department of Counseling, was informed by letter on March 2 that he was to work at home with full pay and benefits while the university investigated allegations of his "intimidating, hostile and bullying behavior."

Neither side would say what complaints prompted the letter, which barred D'Andrea from campus and prohibited him from contacting College of Education faculty and students at any time or risk disciplinary action.

Under the restrictions in the letter, D'Andrea would be unable to talk to other faculty members at a protest, could not respond to a student's request for a letter of recommendation or even invite colleagues over for a social dinner.

Lois Perrin, legal director for the ACLU, said regardless of what D'Andrea has been accused of, if the university's response is upheld, it will set a scary precedent.

"I am of the opinion the university thinks it can issue a categorical ban, which it has for one month, to anybody without running afoul of the Constitution," she said.

The university last week agreed to relax some of its restrictions but held firm on barring D'Andrea from any communication with current and former students, which is what prompted the ACLU to file the lawsuit in federal court.

Perrin said the university should have gone to court for a temporary restraining order so that a judge could have determined how to balance campus safety against D'Andrea's right to free speech.

UH spokesman Gregg Takayama issued a brief statement last week that said UH had made a difficult personnel decision to honor its obligations to the rest of the university community.

"The university is committed to and has a contractual obligation to provide a safe and healthy working and learning environment for its faculty, staff and students. Furthermore, we try to foster a climate of collegial respect and trust to support our educational mission," he wrote. "The actions taken by the university in this matter were consistent with those commitments and responsibilities."

Eric Seitz, co-counsel in the case, said he was troubled that a public university would restrict its faculty's free speech and assembly rights. "Universities are supposed to encourage debate, not limit and deter it," he said.