FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) — A federal lawsuit accusing Indian River State College of wrongfully firing a Muslim adjunct professor after officials allegedly labeled him a terrorist threat is moving forward.
Syed Ammar Ahmed, who taught at IRSC for nearly five years, claims in a federal civil rights complaint that the college terminated him in March 2024 based on false information that he appeared in an “FDLE Homeland Security database” because of terrorist threats. The lawsuit says no such database exists and that the college never produced evidence of the alleged security alert.
Ahmed, a practicing Muslim of Pakistani ancestry, sued the District Board of Trustees for Indian River State College, IRSC President Timothy Moore and an unnamed Florida Board of Education member in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The complaint alleges religious discrimination, race and national origin discrimination, First Amendment retaliation and conspiracy to interfere with civil rights.
According to the complaint, Ahmed began working for IRSC as an adjunct professor in June 2019 and had no disciplinary issues. In January 2024, he noticed he was not scheduled to teach for the spring semester and contacted a dean but did not receive a response.
On March 1, 2024, IRSC’s then-chief human resources officer called Ahmed and told him he was being terminated effective immediately, according to the lawsuit. A follow-up email allegedly said IRSC’s campus safety chief had received a security alert from FDLE stating Ahmed appeared in a homeland security database because of terrorist threats.
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Ahmed denied the allegation and told the college he had previously passed background checks, obtained TSA PreCheck and worked as a federal contractor with security clearance, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit says IRSC later pointed Ahmed to a 2020 article from FrontPage Magazine that described him as an “Islamist/racist/Socialist professor” and referenced old social media posts from 2009 to 2013, when Ahmed would have been between 15 and 19 years old. The complaint says the article also cited Ahmed’s affiliation with U.S. Muslim nonprofit organizations as part of its allegations.
Ahmed’s attorneys argue IRSC relied on inflammatory and anti-Muslim material rather than verified security information.
A Muslim professor says IRSC fired him over a false terrorist threat claim, then delayed his reinstatement even after officials cleared him, a lawsuit alleges. (WPEC)
Internal emails released through a public records request later showed the college had cleared Ahmed weeks after his termination, according to the complaint. On April 5, 2024, IRSC’s campus safety chief allegedly wrote that Ahmed “has been cleared and no longer poses a threat to the college” and that campus safety had closed its investigations related to him.
In the same email thread, the lawsuit says a human resources official wrote, “Please keep in mind I wrongfully terminated an employee based upon the information I was supplied.”
IRSC officials discussed reinstating Ahmed and apologizing for the misunderstanding, according to the complaint. But Ahmed claims the reinstatement letter was never sent and that he did not hear from the college again until Aug. 28, 2024, after his attorneys submitted a public records request.
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By then, the lawsuit says, Ahmed’s teaching certification had expired, leaving him ineligible for class assignments during the summer and fall semesters. He was not assigned another class until spring 2025, costing him three semesters of teaching, according to the complaint.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America, which is representing Ahmed along with the Sharp Law Firm, said a federal judge denied motions to dismiss the case on June 17, allowing Ahmed’s claims to proceed.
The lawsuit seeks damages, attorney’s fees, declaratory and injunctive relief, and limited discovery to identify the unnamed Florida Board of Education member.
The allegations remain pending in federal court.