A former college professor in Duluth is fighting to get his job back.

Russell Stewart says he was fired for refusing to comply with the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Now he is suing Gov Tim Walz and Lake Superior College, his former employer.

Stewart was approaching 30 years at the community college in Duluth.

“I’ve made some of my best lifelong friends in the classroom,” Stewart said.

Since 1992, Stewart taught philosophy, among other subjects at Lake Superior College, a taxpayer-funded institution.

“I think the greatest thing about teaching is the learning,” Stewart said.

Then, the global pandemic happened. But it’s a move by Gov. Walz during that time that put Stewart in a tough spot.

“I don’t think he had any legal basis for what he did,” Stewart said.

Stewart refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine and didn’t want to get regularly tested, something the state mandated for state employees in 2021.

“It seems like a minor thing to some people, but to me it was a very serious violation of my personal autonomy,” Stewart said.

Stewart was told to go home without pay and even emailed his students to fill them in. Ultimately, he says he was fired for that email in 2022 and for not complying with the COVID policy.

“When you lose your career and it’s a career that you love, you lose a piece of your identity,” Stewart said.

Now, Stewart and the New Civil Liberties Alliance are suing Walz and Lake Superior College to declare this mandate and the firing unconstitutional.

“I would love my job back. Teaching is my life’s passion,” Stewart said.

Around the same time, Mayo Clinic fired about 700 employees who refused to comply with its vaccine mandate. The same year, health care workers sued Northfield Hospital for its COVID policies.

Stewart believes it’s a First Amendment right.

“Was I a fool for being so stubborn? But I do, at the end, believe I did the right thing — I stood on principle,” Stewart said.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reached out to Walz’s office for comment and has not heard back.

Lake Superior College tells us they have yet to review the lawsuit.