Northwestern University Associate Professor Arthur Butz recently issued a statement commending Iranian President Ahmadinejad's assertion that the Holocaust never happened. Butz is a Holocaust denier who has made similar assertions previously. His latest statement, like his earlier writings and pronouncements, is a contemptible insult to all decent and feeling people. While I hope everyone understands that Butz's opinions are his own and in no way represent the views of the University or me personally, his reprehensible opinions on this issue are an embarrassment to Northwestern.There is no question that the Holocaust is a well-documented historical fact. The University has a professorship in Holocaust Studies endowed by the Holocaust Educational Foundation. Northwestern offers courses in Holocaust Studies and organizes conferences of academic scholars who teach in areas relating to the Holocaust. In addition, Northwestern hosts a summer Institute for Holocaust and Jewish Civilization. And most recently, a fellowship in the political science department has been established in my name by the Holocaust Educational Foundation. In short, Northwestern University has contributed significantly to the scholarly research of the Holocaust and remains committed to doing so.
Butz is a tenured associate professor in electrical engineering. Like all faculty members, he is entitled to express his personal views, including on his personal web pages, as long as he does not represent such opinions as the views of the University. Butz has made clear that his opinions are his own and at no time has he discussed those views in class or made them part of his class curriculum. Therefore, we cannot take action based on the content of what Butz says regarding the Holocaust - however odious it may be - without undermining the vital principle of intellectual freedom that all academic institutions serve to protect.
Henry S. Bienen
President[7]
My recollection is that the issue wasn't decided as much on the fact that NU was an academic institution, whose reputation could clearly suffer both from Butz's opinions and from censoring them, but the fact that Butz carefully never addressed the topic in class, or in the context of his role as a Northwestern Professor. Despite the fact that his status was known to his Nazi fans. He was even allowed to post links on his personal university website.
Seems to me that unless this 20 year old is expressing his opinions to fellow workers or customers, he has a legitimate action against his employer.
Of course the Butz controversy is now four decades old. Not sure liberals or liberal institutions, academic or otherwise, have the same concerns about speech they did then.
They don't. Back when they were concerned about "free speech", it was because their speech and their ideas were very much despised by the public. Now that they have the upper hand, they no longer have need of the fiction that they were concerned about equality regarding freedom of speech.
Every day you see another example of Liberals trying to censor or inhibit speech of others with whom they disagree.
It was just a tactic to help them get into power.