<story><title>University of Florida reverses course, allows professors to testify</title><url>https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/11/05/university-of-florida-reverses-course-allows-professors-to-testify-regardless-of-compensation/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>duxup</author><text>&amp;gt;The university initially said that, because it was a public university and faculty are government employees, it would have been a conflict of its interests to allow three prominent professors to testify for plaintiffs in a lawsuit over new voting restrictions that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this year. It backtracked slightly days later when it said the three would be allowed to testify if they forfeited any compensation.&lt;p&gt;What was the conflict?&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t question the government?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>throwawaycities</author><text>There is no conflict of interest.&lt;p&gt;Expert witnesses get called to testify by either party and it’s industry standard they get compensated for their time.  That doesn’t create any conflict of interest, and for the University  to suggest it does is basically saying they believe their own professors are so unethical they would commit the crime of perjury   in exchange for a meager expert witness payment.&lt;p&gt;Also, the idea they are a expert witness for the plaintiff in a case against the government creates a conflict because they work for a public university is the opposite of a conflict of interest.  Whereas there would be more of a conflict if the experts were witnesses for the defendant (ie their employer).&lt;p&gt;The University is so tone deaf they don’t realize it’s a conflict of interest for the university to prevent professors from acting as experts in cases against parties that fund the university and even worse that they back track in the face of public exposure and pressure by allowing them to testify on the condition they can’t be compensated as expert witnesses…it’s a clear attempt to punish the professors if they do testify, which they probably won’t do now since they aren’t being compensated for their time.</text></comment>
<story><title>University of Florida reverses course, allows professors to testify</title><url>https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/11/05/university-of-florida-reverses-course-allows-professors-to-testify-regardless-of-compensation/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>duxup</author><text>&amp;gt;The university initially said that, because it was a public university and faculty are government employees, it would have been a conflict of its interests to allow three prominent professors to testify for plaintiffs in a lawsuit over new voting restrictions that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this year. It backtracked slightly days later when it said the three would be allowed to testify if they forfeited any compensation.&lt;p&gt;What was the conflict?&lt;p&gt;Don&amp;#x27;t question the government?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>supercheetah</author><text>That shouldn&amp;#x27;t even matter. A conflict of interest doesn&amp;#x27;t invalidate what they would have to say. The problems with conflicts of interest in testimony is when that&amp;#x27;s deliberately hidden from anyone to see. Keep that in the open, and any problems from it will also be in the open.</text></comment>