“I’m supposed to be an educator and a scientist upholding Army values, but sir, right now, I’m a liar and a fraud. What we’re doing here is wrong. It’s immoral. It’s likely illegal.”
That’s what West Point Professor, Dr. Adam Kalkstein, told Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves last November. He's suing the university alleging that his contract isn't being renewed because he teaches that “humans influenced climate change,” and that violates his First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
The lawsuit says Dr. Kalkstein was informed in May 2025 that, “his position was being eliminated as part of a reduction in force.”
This was at the same time West Point opened a new Center for the Humanities and was looking for geographers to staff the center.
Dr. Kalkstein, a tenured Full Professor of Geography, taught climate science at West Point for more than 17 years. He was also in very good standing and consistently received “5/5” on West Point professor evaluations, according to the lawsuit.
The only other professor to lose his position did research on bias, the lawsuit says.
Over the summer West Point officials told Dr. Kalkstein he was allowed to stay at the university since he had a $750 thousand grant that could pay for his salary, but he had to give up his tenured position and severance package, according to the lawsuit.
Kalkstein was informed on September 11, 2025, that “professors could no longer teach about anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change and that professors must remove all mention of human causes of climate change from their courses.” Dr. Kalkstein agreed, although he is the only climate scientist at West Point.
The lawsuit states Dr. Kalkstein had a signed contract, signed September, 23, 2025, with the university that he could stay on indefinitely, while the external grant funding paid for his salary.
That November, Dr. Kalkstein met with the Geography Department and the Dean of the Academic Board, Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves. At the meeting, Dr. Kalkstein said that he could not continue teaching and not talk about human-caused climate change. This is what he said, according to the lawsuit:
“It’s not a college-level course. It’s not even a high school course. Not because it isn’t rigorous; it is. But because we’re leaving our essential information. We’re only telling cadets part of the story. We’re lying to them, deceiving them. It would be like trying to teach the law without being able to even mention the Constitution. The guiding principle of any school should be to the truth…I’m supposed to be an educator and a scientist upholding Army values, but sir, right now, I’m a liar and a fraud. What we’re doing here is wrong. It’s immoral. It’s likely illegal”
Reeves was furious and suggested the professor resign, according to the lawsuit.
The head of the Geography and Earth Sciences Department, Col. Mark Read, told Dr. Kalkstein in May 2026 that West Point would not renew his contract past December 2026, according to the lawsuit.
Kalkstein’s attorney, Michael Sussman said that a March 2025 memo from Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is likely related. The memo calls on the Department of Defense (DoD) to avoid “unrelated political ideologies,” including the “Climate Distraction.”
It called on the DoD to no longer “plan, program, or budget for inclusion of climate change initiatives in the Future Years Defense Program.” The memo excludes weather-related impacts and risks, saying those should still be studied.
Sussman said this flies in the face of the ongoing climate crisis, saying "the world is literally exploding, whether in Nepal or in California or in Canada or anywhere else."
He pointed to a recent UN report that the world is on track to pass the 1.5°C climate tipping point in the next few years.
Sussman also says that recently a process server was not allowed into the university to serve the defendants.
“We're sort of beyond the legal system. It’s a 'we'll determine if you have a lawsuit we want serve' type thing. I mean, that's absolutely absurd,” Sussman said.
West Point say they could not comment on the pending litigation, but said the Sussman did not follow the proper legal procedures for serving the defendants.
West Point said, “The process server was advised of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(i)(2), which states that registered or certified mail is the proper way to serve an agency of the Federal government.”
