LISTSERV - NICKNAME Archives - LISTSERV.MIAMIOH.EDU

From: [log in to unmask]
Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 19:56:51 EST
Subject: Battle Heats Up Over Academic Freedom
To: [log in to unmask]
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="part1_59.21291036.2f3fffd3_boundary"

--part1_59.21291036.2f3fffd3_boundary
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Battle Heats Up Over Academic Freedom

By DAN ELLIOTT
c The Associated Press

DENVER (AP) - Academic freedom has never completely protected professors who
make unpopular statements. One was fired in 1960 for suggesting that
premarital sex among students could be a good thing. Three decades later, a department
chair was demoted for saying a Jewish conspiracy denigrated blacks in the
movies. Now experts say the Sept. 11 attacks have put new fire in the battle over
just where academic freedom ends and misconduct - or even treason - begins.

University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill could be fired pending an
investigation prompted by his 2001 essay suggesting some World Trade Center
victims were toiling away like efficient Nazi bureaucrats.

There are no exact figures on attempts to fire or discipline professors since
Sept. 11, but experts say they have probably increased. The fight is
especially fierce at state universities, where some question whether taxpayers must
pay the salaries of professors they find unpatriotic or outrageous.

``We have never been free of the issue of professors coming under intense
scrutiny or attack for having written something somebody finds utterly
loathsome,'' said Jonathan Knight of the American Association of University Professors
in Washington.

Knight said firings are relatively rare, with 50 or 60 losing their jobs each
year for a variety of reasons out of some 800,000 tenured and untenured
professors nationwide. Tenure, a protection normally granted after several years of
probation, is designed to allow teaching and research without fear of
political reprisals.

Overall, challenges to American professors today are mild compared with the
attacks academics suffered during the anti-communist investigations spurred by
Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, said Robert O'Neil, director of the Thomas
Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesville, Va.

But he said the intensity of attacks on academic freedom have increased since
the Sept. 11 attacks.

Churchill's case has ignited furious debate with no shortage of students and
teachers defending his right to speak, even though few have endorsed his
comments.

His essay said some of the trade center victims were ``little Eichmanns,'' a
suggestion that white-collar ``technocrats'' who died that day were no better
than Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann because they are furthering U.S.
policies harmful to Arabs and indigenous people worldwide.

It drew little attention until last month, when Churchill was invited to
speak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Relatives of the Trade Center dead
and the governors of New York and Colorado denounced Churchill, and
Churchill's speech was canceled because of death threats against him.

Since then, other Churchill speeches around the nation have been canceled and
the Hamilton professor who invited him to that campus has stepped down as
program director, fed up with the ``political and media fight that the current
climate requires.''

The University of Colorado has launched a 30-day review to determine whether
Churchill can be fired. Media outlets are exploring his scholarship - one
Denver radio show claims school documents prove he lied about being an American
Indian to land his job - and state legislators are considering making it easier
to get rid of tenured professors.

Churchill has refused to apologize and has threatened to sue if he is let go
over the controversy.

O'Neil said universities have handled most post-Sept. 11 complaints about
professors properly by submitting them to formal review, as Colorado is doing
with Churchill and as the University of New Mexico did for Richard Berthold, a
former history professor.

Berthold told students hours after the Sept. 11 attacks: ``Anyone who can
blow up the Pentagon has my vote.'' The university resisted enormous pressure to
fire him, instead conducting a review and eventually issuing a letter of
reprimand after he apologized.

Berthold says the discipline system worked only because he caved in under
pressure.

``I look back on it, and I just ate too much crow and apologized too much.
I'm ashamed,'' he said. ``It wasn't, 'Let's applaud the killing of innocent
people,' it was my expression of my revulsion for the leadership of this
country.''

He retired two years later.

``Bitter? Oh yes, I'm bitter,'' he said. ``I thought I served the institution
and my society very well for 30 years.''

On the Net:

American Association of University Professors: http://www.aaup.org

Thomas Jefferson Center: http://www.tjcenter.org



02/12/05 16:09 EST


--part1_59.21291036.2f3fffd3_boundary
Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT  SIZE=3D5 PTSIZE=3D16 FAMILY=
=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"><B>Battle Heats Up Over Academic Fr=
eedom<BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR=3D"#000000" BACK=3D"#ffffff" style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR:=20=
#ffffff" SIZE=3D2 PTSIZE=3D10 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"=
></B><BR>
<B>By DAN ELLIOTT</B><BR>
</FONT><FONT  COLOR=3D"#000000" BACK=3D"#ffffff" style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR:=20=
#ffffff" SIZE=3D1 PTSIZE=3D8 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">=
<I>.c The Associated Press </FONT><FONT  COLOR=3D"#000000" BACK=3D"#ffffff"=20=
style=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3D2 PTSIZE=3D10 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF=
" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"></I><BR>
<BR>
DENVER (AP) - Academic freedom has never completely protected professors who=
 make unpopular statements. One was fired in 1960 for suggesting that premar=
ital sex among students could be a good thing. Three decades later, a depart=
ment chair was demoted for saying a Jewish conspiracy denigrated blacks in t=
he movies. Now experts say the Sept. 11 attacks have put new fire in the bat=
tle over just where academic freedom ends and misconduct - or even treason -=
 begins.<BR>
<BR>
University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill could be fired pending an in=
vestigation prompted by his 2001 essay suggesting some World Trade Center vi=
ctims were toiling away like efficient Nazi bureaucrats.<BR>
<BR>
There are no exact figures on attempts to fire or discipline professors sinc=
e Sept. 11, but experts say they have probably increased. The fight is espec=
ially fierce at state universities, where some question whether taxpayers mu=
st pay the salaries of professors they find unpatriotic or outrageous.<BR>
<BR>
``We have never been free of the issue of professors coming under intense sc=
rutiny or attack for having written something somebody finds utterly loathso=
me,'' said Jonathan Knight of the American Association of University Profess=
ors in Washington.<BR>
<BR>
Knight said firings are relatively rare, with 50 or 60 losing their jobs eac=
h year for a variety of reasons out of some 800,000 tenured and untenured pr=
ofessors nationwide. Tenure, a protection normally granted after several yea=
rs of probation, is designed to allow teaching and research without fear of=20=
political reprisals.<BR>
<BR>
Overall, challenges to American professors today are mild compared with the=20=
attacks academics suffered during the anti-communist investigations spurred=20=
by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, said Robert O'Neil, director of the Th=
omas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression in Charlottesvil=
le, Va.<BR>
<BR>
But he said the intensity of attacks on academic freedom have increased sinc=
e the Sept. 11 attacks.<BR>
<BR>
Churchill's case has ignited furious debate with no shortage of students and=
 teachers defending his right to speak, even though few have endorsed his co=
mments.<BR>
<BR>
His essay said some of the trade center victims were ``little Eichmanns,'' a=
 suggestion that white-collar ``technocrats'' who died that day were no bett=
er than Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann because they are furthering U.S.=20=
policies harmful to Arabs and indigenous people worldwide.<BR>
<BR>
It drew little attention until last month, when Churchill was invited to spe=
ak at Hamilton College in upstate New York. Relatives of the Trade Center de=
ad and the governors of New York and Colorado denounced Churchill, and Churc=
hill's speech was canceled because of death threats against him.<BR>
<BR>
Since then, other Churchill speeches around the nation have been canceled an=
d the Hamilton professor who invited him to that campus has stepped down as=20=
program director, fed up with the ``political and media fight that the curre=
nt climate requires.''<BR>
<BR>
The University of Colorado has launched a 30-day review to determine whether=
 Churchill can be fired. Media outlets are exploring his scholarship - one D=
enver radio show claims school documents prove he lied about being an Americ=
an Indian to land his job - and state legislators are considering making it=20=
easier to get rid of tenured professors.<BR>
<BR>
Churchill has refused to apologize and has threatened to sue if he is let go=
 over the controversy.<BR>
<BR>
O'Neil said universities have handled most post-Sept. 11 complaints about pr=
ofessors properly by submitting them to formal review, as Colorado is doing=20=
with Churchill and as the University of New Mexico did for Richard Berthold,=
 a former history professor.<BR>
<BR>
Berthold told students hours after the Sept. 11 attacks: ``Anyone who can bl=
ow up the Pentagon has my vote.'' The university resisted enormous pressure=20=
to fire him, instead conducting a review and eventually issuing a letter of=20=
reprimand after he apologized.<BR>
<BR>
Berthold says the discipline system worked only because he caved in under pr=
essure.<BR>
<BR>
``I look back on it, and I just ate too much crow and apologized too much. I=
'm ashamed,'' he said. ``It wasn't, 'Let's applaud the killing of innocent p=
eople,' it was my expression of my revulsion for the leadership of this coun=
try.''<BR>
<BR>
He retired two years later.<BR>
<BR>
``Bitter? Oh yes, I'm bitter,'' he said. ``I thought I served the institutio=
n and my society very well for 30 years.''<BR>
<BR>
On the Net:<BR>
<BR>
American Association of University Professors: http://www.aaup.org<BR>
<BR>
Thomas Jefferson Center: http://www.tjcenter.org<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
 <BR>
02/12/05 16:09 EST<BR>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </FONT><FONT  COLOR=3D"#000000" BACK=3D"#ffffff" style=
=3D"BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff" SIZE=3D1 PTSIZE=3D8 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=
=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"><BR>
</FONT></HTML>
--part1_59.21291036.2f3fffd3_boundary--