Posted on 02/23/2017 11:06:37 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON, Wis. — Still fighting for his speech and contractual rights two years after Marquette University drove him out of the classroom, Professor John McAdams will receive a top national academic freedom prize Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. McAdams will be awarded the Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick Award for Academic Freedom for his outspoken criticism of political correctness on college campuses.
“Professor McAdams is a fearless defender of free speech and open inquiry, and a martyr to political correctness,” said Richard Graber, president and CEO of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which supports the Kirkpatrick Award. “His dismissal from Marquette University flies in the face of the traditions of academic freedom.”
The award carries a $10,000 stipend and honors the memory of Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations “who was known for her outspokenness in hostile environments, her clarity and determination in the midst of oppression, and her fierce dedication to American ideals and academic freedom,” according to a statement.
Marquette administrators suspended McAdams for a November 2014 commentary the nationally recognized political science professor wrote on his blog, Marquette Warrior. The post criticized philosophy instructor and graduate student Cheryl Abbate for telling a student she would not allow discussion of viewpoints critical of same-sex marriage in her class at the Catholic university, saying such beliefs would be perceived as homophobic.
The student, unnamed in the lawsuit, recorded the conversation and gave it to McAdams, who posted a transcript of the conversation and linked to Abbate’s personal webpage.
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The university moved to fire McAdams after the blog post went viral and Abbate received disturbing email. Abbate left Marquette shortly afterward to begin a doctoral program at the University of Colorado at Boulder. McAdams appealed to a faculty committee, saying the academic freedom embedded in his contract protected his First Amendment right to free speech. The committee issued a report in January 2016 recommending unpaid suspension for McAdams through the fall 2016 semester.
In its decision, the panel acknowledged McAdams’ academic freedom rights and his constitutional right to free speech.
But Marquette President Michael Lovell added three additional requirements to be met before McAdams can be reinstated. The requirements, listed in a January letter, said McAdams would have to accept the judgment of his peers, commit to the standards of higher education at Marquette and acknowledge that his blog post was reckless and incompatible with Marquette’s mission. He also is expected to express regret for the alleged harm suffered by Abbate.
McAdams effectively told Lovell and his political correctness police to go pound sand. He sued. The litigation is playing out in a Milwaukee County court, as McAdams remains exiled from the classroom.
Earlier this month, Judge David Hansher considered competing motions for summary judgment. If he does not grant either side’s motion, the case will be tried before a jury starting June 19. Whatever the ruling, Harsher said he expects his written decision to be appealed.
In a letter last April, McAdams refused to accept the faculty committee’s recommendation and to comply with the additional demands made by Lovell. He continues to be suspended, but not fired, and is unable to access the funds in his retirement account.
McAdams has said that no financial offer could induce him to drop his lawsuit seeking reinstatement.
“It really is a matter of principle. I’m not going to let the bastards get rid of me,” McAdams said in an interview last month.
Lovell’s actions have landed Marquette University on a list of the Ten Worst Universities for Free Speech, as ranked by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
Founded in 1985, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is devoted to strengthening American democratic capitalism and the institutions, principles and values that sustain and nurture it. Its programs support limited, competent government; a dynamic marketplace for economic, intellectual and cultural activity; and a vigorous defense, at home and abroad, of American ideas and institutions, according to the foundation’s website.
McAdams, the JFK assassination theory debunker guy:
http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/
I think Scott Walker was bringing up a possible law in Wisconsin where people could say things on campuses without fearing retaliation, it almost read like the John McAdams law.
Good guy imo.
Not the first time the Jesuits have stained their body.
One example:
Although they were not involved in the early years of the Spanish Inquisition, (Dominicans) they joined later.
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