Posted on 02/07/2004 2:25:34 PM PST by yonif
A professor claims there is a lack of scholarly attention to Mormon history within the University of Utah history department, the Salt Lake Tribune reported in a copyright story Friday.
Teachers recognize no "intellectual or cultural merit in Mormonism," claimed university religious historian Colleen McDannell. She said a perfect example of the bias is the recent rejection of a controversial Mormon studies scholar for a history position.
In a Feb. 3 letter to administrators, McDannell said her colleagues' refusal to hire D. Michael Quinn, a Yale-educated author and excommunicated Mormon, is "blatant discrimination."
"The absence on this campus of scholarly attention to Mormon history, theology and practice is profound," said McDannell, who served on the search committee.
University historian Robert Goldberg, one of eight professors on the search committee, said the department is "clean" of any discrimination.
"Not one of the votes against Michael had anything to do with denigrating Mormon history or the Mormon church," he said. "In my mind, it was just the opposite."
Goldberg said he and the five others who voted against hiring Quinn are not looking for a Mormon apologist. But they don't want an avowed critic, either.
Jim Clayton, a senior historian in the department, said the school has no mandate to teach Mormon history.
"It presents all kinds of difficulties. Who could teach it without criticism from either side?" Clayton said. "Mormons who want the church's perspective can take a class at the LDS Institute across the street."
History Department Chairman Eric Hinderaker said he was shocked by McDannell's "astonishingly egregious breach of confidentiality" of closed-door personnel discussions.
The latest controversy is complicated by Quinn's biography.
Quinn, one of six candidates considered for an open position, believes in Mormonism's divine origins. Scholars praise his groundbreaking research on early Mormons and their ties to the occult.
Church officials were less impressed; Quinn's books got him fired from Brigham Young University and kicked out of the church.
McDannell said Quinn's rejection by the University of Utah was tantamount to saying he's a bad historian. "The word would be out: The Mormon church was right," McDannell said.
Quinn told the Tribune there has been a "historical pattern of hostility toward Mormonism" at the university, but he did not detect any during his campus interview.
The dispute comes at a volatile time for the university. The school is battling the LDS-dominated Legislature over funding and guns on campus.
A federal appeals court this week revived a lawsuit alleging anti-Mormon discrimination in the theater department.
Former acting student Christina Axson-Flynn, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claimed the university violated her freedoms of speech and religion four years ago after she refused to recite lines that contained the F-word or took "the Lord's name in vain."
Axson-Flynn said it was clear she would be asked to leave the university's acting program for not reciting the lines she believed violated her religious teachings.
The Quinn dispute also highlights an ongoing dilemma for Utah's public colleges and universities: how to promote free inquiry and academic freedom without disparaging or advocating the LDS church, which is uniquely tied to Utah history.
What? The University of Utah is Mormon church property? I think that they tried to set up a separate nation before, and that didn't work then either.
This isn't about law. It's about reality. He shouldn't go there, for the same reason that no white male should expect to rise through the ranks of the Federal civil service. There may be explicit laws prohibiting discrimination, but you're gonna get it anyway. Knowing that, don't go there. In matters like this, it doesn't matter what the law says. People who do not want you around will find a thousand ways to make your life miserable. That's not one of the written rules, but it is definitely one of the unwritten rules.
Yep, conservatives aren't allowed at Berkeley either. Doesn't mean one shouldn't fight the good fight.
That depends on whether one's goal is to "fight," or to influence young minds. While the conservative at Berkeley is "fighting," the conservative who went to Francis Marion in South Carolina is being promoted to Chairman of the Political Science Department. Not only does he have a nicer life, he gets to teach more classes, and even to decide what they will be about. Plus he gets his message into the press more, because he's a big-shot Political Science professor.
The first guy is fascinated by the battle. The second guy understands the war.
Gotta start somewhere. Advocating conservatism in South Carolina is "preaching to the choir". Much easier audience. I suggest that his struggle is about bringing it to the belly of the beast. One shouldn't let the reactionaries get too comfortable with their supposed autocracies - be they religious or "liberal".
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