The Chair of the Monroe County Democrat Party, Molly Clifford, is a Cornell U graduate.
Proving that, once again, Ithaca is the City of Evil.
Posted on 11/01/2004 7:15:40 PM PST by nicole_g
A former professor at Monroe Community College says he was fired because he showed his support for President Bush. Dr. Michael Filozof says he was fired from his job as a political science professor after he was harassed by a predominantly left wing department. Monday morning he filed suit against MCC and now he wants a pay back.
"It was an American flag. I didn't think it was too controversial but apparently at MCC it was."
Filozof says his colleagues at MCC attacked his political views. It came as quite a shock considering many professors decorate their office doors with political messages. The difference between his and others he says is that he's conservative while the others are liberal.
"The faculty at many institutions are not balanced. They live in a bubble, they don't live in the real world and they've got views out of the mainstream. If you bring mainstream views into academia, you get discriminated against."
Filozof's contract wasn't renewed at the beginning of this year. Now he's filed a lawsuit claiming he was fired because of his political views.
His attorney Nelson Thomas says it amounts to a violation of constitutional rights. "Being a government-run institution, you have to respect your employees first amendment rights and that's what they didn't do here."
An MCC spokesperson tells news 8 they are aware of the lawsuit but it's their policy not to comment on pending litigation.
Filozof is suing for lost pay, and the pain and suffering he says he endured. In the meantime, he's been teaching part time at other schools in Western New York but says he took a severe pay cut. He also says that he never brought his views into the classroom.
"I never was accused by anyone, faculty or students, of being overly political, no." The lawsuit was filed this morning and MCC has 20 days to respond.
I am a PhD student at a Business School and am surrounded by liberal professors and students (with a few exceptions). I don't openly voice my opinion for fear of being discriminated against. In any case, in the context of my research and classes, it doesn't really matter. I can only imagine what it must be like in a liberal arts field.
good. we need to see more people stand up for their rights
I am a former student of his and was deeply involved in fighting this particular school in incidents relating to similar bias. I was also the President of the College Republicans on campus there. I am at a much better 4-year institution now and while I still experience *some* liberal bias, 3 of 5 of my professors are actually vocally conservative!
I can't wait to hear how the school responds to this. It'll be good to know that all of our efforts with this particular school have paid off. Justice.
Business is traditionally conservatives. It's hard to imagine a good businessman looking at the return on investment for social programs in the last 30-40 years and supporting a tax and spend liberal.
I should have mentioned that this is a continuation of the following that was posted earlier this year:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1135772/posts
NOTE: The following is from May 13, 2004.
CampusReportOnline.Net
Correct (Politically) Community College
by: Malcolm A. Kline, May 13, 2004
Cary, N.C.—Renegade professors and serious students hoping to buck the politically correct trend that engulfs academia and makes shared knowledge an endangered species may not find much refuge in their local community college.
Dr. Michael Filozof certainly found no sanctuary at Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York. Married, with one daughter, the tenure-track political science professor at the school now faces imminent unemployment as a result of a scurrilous whispering campaign by two professors who found his political views (support for President Bush and for U.S. troops in Iraq) hard to take.
When Dr. Filozof placed an American flag sticker on his door with the sentence “I support President Bush” under it, he soon found another note placed nearby warning him that the sticker was “inappropriate.” Though anonymous, the note was on the stationery used by two professors whose entries in Professor Filozof’s personnel file constituted the only negative commentary on his job performance.
Those minority reviews led to the school’s failure to renew Dr. Filozof’s contract and were, in turn, based on misinformation and disinformation. “After one year [at Monroe], I was accused of sexual harassment by two left-wing faculty members,” Dr. Filozof remembers. “The accusers were a 60-year-old female and a 60-year-old gay male.”
According to Dr. Filozof, who looks far younger than his 39 years, their campaign did not end there. “They accused me of bringing a gun to school,” Dr. Filozof said at a conference on academic freedom that was held in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
The basis for that accusation? “About a year before, I had told a colleague that I was going hunting after work,” Dr. Filozof said. “Out of that, they concluded that I brought a gun to school.”
The onslaught succeeded. In December 2003, the school elected not to renew Dr. Filozof’s contract.
“The content of this case can be found in a three-inch thick folder, which outlines in great detail, the positive reviews and assessments by students and faculty members on behalf of Dr. Filozof,” one of his students, Nicole Giancursio, found. “This information praises the accomplishments of a skilled teacher, and reveals that in no way was Dr. Filozof negligent or incompetent, but that one or two of his colleagues did not like him, proceeded to mistreat him and lie about him, and then fired him over this personal vendetta.”
Dr. Filozof was not only Nicole’s teacher but the faculty advisor to the College Republicans chapter that she headed. His shepherding of the College Republicans, along with his skepticism about the effectiveness of affirmative action and his suspicion of radical Islam, doubtless added to the professor’s sins in the eyes of his detractors.
Nicole demonstrated admirable loyalty and tenacity, even bravery, in personally protesting Dr. Filozof’s dismissal at the expense of her standing at the school. She herself was cold-shouldered by every bureaucrat she contacted all the way up the academic food chain.
Nicole finally found an ally on the State University of New York Board of Trustees—the formidable Dr. Candace de Russy. Gracious, elegant and keenly intelligent, Dr. de Russy is everything that the media say Teresa Heinz Kerry is. Dr. de Russy, incensed by Monroe Community College’s treatment of Dr. Filozof, vows to bring up the issue every chance she gets and has, as usual, been true to her word.
Meanwhile, Nicole, who spoke at the same conference as Dr. Filozof and Dr. de Russy, decided that she has had enough of the political climate at Monroe and is transferring to a small Jesuit college. The last straw for her was when Monroe recently showcased a drag show (not to be confused with car racing).
The school newspaper ran a photo of the student government president offering a dollar bill to a drag queen stripper. At the same time, groups, such as the College Republicans, that keep their clothes and gender on, are left to beg the school for assistance.
For example, when Nicole went to school officials seeking support for a College Republican effort to send care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq, she was told, “We can’t get involved in anything that controversial.”
“We have been rejected by the school's student newspaper after submitting a number of articles about our events, including the Maggie Brooks visit in which 130 people attended,” Nicole says. Maggie Brooks is Monroe County’s first female County Executive.
“The school has done little to promote our events, and does not effectively assist us in the same ways other groups are favored,” Nicole pointed out.
“Oftentimes, these subtle ‘mistakes’ carried out by the administration can include not posting a listing on the school's web site that details our event (or posting it at the last minute after we remind them several times, or posting them with typos), or delaying the printing of our flyers, or incorrectly posting information regarding our events, etc.”
According to Nicole, other groups encountering similar problems include the Jewish Student Association and Brothers And Sisters In Christ. The treatment of the former is particularly interesting vis-à-vis the school’s support for, and funding of, the campus chapter of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), primarily known for the annual Islamic Awareness Day it promotes.
The national MSA is currently under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. The committee has asked the Internal Revenue Service for the group’s tax records in order to determine the MSA’s possible links to terrorism.
Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, please e-mail mal.kline@academia.org
ping
The left is so sick, it isn't even funny any more.
Here's the e-mail address for R. Thomas Flynn, President of Monroe Community College -
tflynn@monroecc.edu
Since this is a County Community College, I would suggest a better point of contact would be Monroe County Executive, Maggie Brooks:
County Executive: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
Maggie Brooks, County Executive
Suite 110
39 West Main Street
Rochester, NY 14614
Phone: (585)428-5301
Ah but political persuasion is not a constitutionally protected area of life. You may speak but you are not protected against DISCRIMINATION.
Sexual preference is dangerously close to getting such protection (as religion, sex, and race are) but political beliefs have NO such constitutional protection.
Why do you think that the Democrats accuse Republicans of being Nazis? It is projection and a diversionary tactic. If "we" are called Nazis, does the word have any relevancy if WE try to hurl it right back at them?
We brought Ms. Brooks to campus earlier this year after she had been elected to speak to students, faculty and staff on the importance of participating in local government. She is a very pleasant lady and an exceptional local leader who has done many great things for Rochester and Monroe County. But in many ways I think she's going to side with the administration on this one. She has a history with the big shots at that school (notably RT Flynn, President of MCC) and would most likely opt to sweep this under the rug.
I would recommend, for activist purposes and inquiries, contacting some of the Monroe County legislators, SUNY and MCC Board of Trustees members, and the SUNY Chancellor Bob King.
Monroe County Legislature: Education Committee (which oversees MCC):
Mary Valerio: monroe3@monroecounty.gov
Wayne Zyra (President of the legislature): monroe2@monroecounty.gov
Mark J. Cassetti: monroe5@monroecounty.gov
Jeff Adair: monroe12@monroecounty.gov
To contact the SUNY Trustees you have to write to them. Their contact information can be found at:
http://www.suny.edu/Board_of_Trustees/index.cfm
To contact the SUNY Chancellor:
Bob King, Chancellor
State University of New York
State University Plaza
Albany, New York 12246
MCC Board of Trustees Chair:
John R. Parrinello, Esq.
Trustee
1000 East Henrietta Road
Rochester, NY 14623
Most importantly, contact relevant officials if you are so inclined. There are also various activists groups around the country (like Students for Acadmeic Freedom) that would be interested in this. Getting publicity is important, too.
Thanks for all your support.
The Chair of the Monroe County Democrat Party, Molly Clifford, is a Cornell U graduate.
Proving that, once again, Ithaca is the City of Evil.
Didn't Ann Coulter graduate from Cornell? Was she just one of the few survivors? :-)
Yeah, Ithaca is baaaaad.
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