Posted on 07/07/2006 5:33:44 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
MADISON, WI (AP) -- A University of Wisconsin instructor under fire for his views on the Sept. 11 attacks sent a sarcastic letter to Gov. Jim Doyle this week, a spokesman for the governor said Friday.
Doyle's office has forwarded the July 5 letter from Kevin Barrett to UW-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell, who is reviewing whether Barrett should be allowed to teach a course on Islam this fall, said Doyle spokesman Matt Canter.
"This further highlights the governor's concerns about whether somebody who is touting these outlandish views is fit to teach in the classroom," said Canter, who released a copy of the letter Friday.
Barrett, active in a group called Scholars for 9/11 Truth, is among a small group that believes the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were carried out by U.S. government officials, not al-Qaida terrorists.
Some lawmakers called for his firing as a part-time instructor after he spoke on a Wisconsin radio talk show and acknowledged he presented the theory to students in the past.
Doyle also blasted Barrett and questioned his competence but stopped short of demanding he be fired. Barrett responded with the letter to the governor's office.
In it, he ridicules Doyle for political posturing and sarcastically includes a questionnaire for UW-Madison instructors to help Doyle "weed out dissenters from the ranks of UW-Madison instructors."
The questionnaire includes 20 questions about government conspiracy theories dating to the 1800s and sarcastically suggests any teacher who believes them should be fired.
"This shows that he has no regard to facts," Canter said. "In the academic world, theories must be based on some factual evidence and it appears that Mr. Barrett draws conclusions without any factual basis."
Farrell, who launched the review after Barrett's talk show appearance, expected to have the review complete by Friday but decided he needs more time, said UW-Madison spokesman Brian Mattmiller. He said the review should be complete next week and he will take all materials, including the letter to Doyle, into consideration.
In the meantime, Barrett is scheduled to speak Sunday at the Midwest Social Forum at UW-Milwaukee about his belief that the twin towers were destroyed by explosives detonated by U.S. government officials.
The introductory course on Islam is the only one he is scheduled to teach at UW-Madison this fall. He is also scheduled to teach a similar course at Edgewood College in Madison.
"Local Lunatic" Ping!
Kevin is probably a big Chai Vang fan, as well.
Barrett is loving this attention. Way to go Doyle for giving him even more of it.
Maybe if he viewed the video of bin Laden claiming credit for the attack and being gleeful, he'd get a clue.
I didn't catch whether he's a US citizen. If not, deport his butt, preferably to Gitmo.
They were somewhat more subtle when I was there.
"In the academic world, theories must be based on some factual evidence and it appears that Mr. Barrett draws conclusions without any factual basis."
If they can him he can always get a job at CNN or NBC.
Did Ward get fired by Colorado, and hired by Wisconsin???
Oh, nevermind... I see that they were just comparing Barrett to Ward-of-the-state Churchill.
Dude has been reading too much Alex Jones crap.
Once again proving you dont have to be intelligent to be a college professor. Put in enough time in a classroom and be rewarded with a PHD.
And to think we wanted to move back to Wisconsin because the D.C. area was too full of liberal wackjobs...
I forgot how effed up Madison is. The extent to which it is effed up has been more and more abrasive every year.
This guy needs to be gift wrapped and handed over to those nice Muslims he admires so much that are on summer vacation in Iraq.
[And to think we wanted to move back to Wisconsin because the D.C. area was too full of liberal wackjobs...]
The state needs good folks like you. Don't let one rotten a-whole diside YOUR families future.
As long as the left uses nut-jobs like this to gain support, we should be able to ditch doyle this fall.
Another sad item is that the article says he's teaching this class at Edgewood College. Edgewood is a local Catholic college that can make the UW look conservative.
Agreed. Hopefully he'll be fired before that happens. I have a friend whose daughter is a Sophomore at Edgewood. I'll be sure to give her a Head's Up, because Edgewood was the only college in the area my rather conservative friend would pay to have her daughter attend, LOL!
We did the same with our son. We told him we would not, under any circumstances fund a UW education for him. What a waste of my money, IMHO. Yes, I know we have "normal" Freeper grads here from the UW and I confess to having a few credits from there too, but that place has gotten worse over the past two decades; or maybe it's just that people are finally noticing how it really is?
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