Posted on 12/06/2004 3:30:00 PM PST by Diago
“We need to tell our students that Bush is a liar and that many in the Republican party are essentially the Christian version of the Taliban”
http://www.carrollnewsonline.com/index.php?id=135
From the John Carroll University Student Newspaper
|
Meetings are being held to discuss politics in the classroom after a professor apologized for an e-mail in which he vented his frustrations over the result of the presidential election. The controversial e-mail was written by Paul Lauritzen, director of the Applied Ethics Program and professor of Religious Studies, to 32 faculty and administrators. The e-mail, which was sent on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 10:31 a.m., somehow made it into the hands of students. In it, Lauritzen wrote that he was “depressed beyond belief” at the result of the election. He added that he was angry, using an expletive. He then called on colleagues to become more active in political discussion with their students. “We need to tell our students that Bush is a liar and that many in the Republican party are essentially the Christian version of the Taliban,” he wrote. “Bush won Ohio and much of the rest of the country because of Guns, Gays, and God,” Lauritzen wrote. He added, “I say No Guns, No Gay Bashing, Not Your God.” He added that faculty must organize against the war in Iraq. “We have to abandon this studied neutrality,” Lauritzen wrote. “We have to lead by example. I ask you to join me in transforming the culture at JCU.” At the end of the e-mail, Lauritzen urged the recipients to forward the message to others who might be interested. The Carroll News obtained the e-mail from various students who each expressed their concern over its contents. Senior Brian Ellis, who was one of the students who got a hold of the e-mail, met with Lauritzen. “We’re not paying for a one-sided education,” Ellis said. Nine days after the original e-mail, Lauritzen sent out an apology to the faculty, staff and administrator e-mail list. The same apology will be sent to all students. “Because the language of the e-mail was intemperate, it has given great offense to many in our community, especially many Republicans,” Lauritzen wrote. Lauritzen said that it was not his intention to insult anyone. He also apologized to the recipients of the e-mail, saying that they could mistakenly be thought to endorse the e-mail. “No one should draw that conclusion,” Lauritzen said. He added, “The anger expressed in my e-mail was blameworthy, and I apologize for it.” |
From last year's John Carroll Newspaper:
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-religion/1104704/posts
In reaction to the society’s actions, Flannery said, “I think the Cardinal Newman Society is the closest organization in the Catholic Church to the Taliban. [The Cardinal Newman Society] has used harassment and terrorist tactics to shut down the president’s computer system and to do harm to my department’s office,” Flannery said.
Despite concerns, show goes on
Over 1,000 e-mails poured into University President Rev. Edward Glynn’s inbox last weekend, and they weren’t all valentine greetings.
These e-mails came from people all over the nation, expressing fierce opposition to last weekend’s production of “The Vagina Monologues.”
According to Glynn and chair of the Communications Department Sister Mary Ann Flannery, the e-mails detailed opposition to the production’s controversial content being displayed on a Catholic university’s campus.
These e-mails were generated, according to Glynn and Flannery, through efforts made by the Cardinal Newman Society.
This society is an ultra-conservative Catholic group, based in Virginia, said Flannery, who was in charge of the monologues.
The e-mails also contained objections to a portion of the production’s proceeds being given to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, a member of the pro-choice Freedom of Choice Cleveland Coalition.
Since those e-mails were received, the University made the decision to revoke the funds being given to the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and re-direct them to the Missing and Murdered Women of Juarez, Mexico.
The Cardinal Newman Society calls itself “the national organization dedicated to the renewal of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education in the United States.”
The society makes efforts to regulate activity on Catholic campuses, to make sure that the activities and policies coincide with their idea of the true Catholic tradition.
The Cardinal Newman Society is, according to Vice President of Student Affairs Patrick Rombalski, “the Catholic police.”
The Cardinal Newman Society, which called for all of these e-mails to be sent to Glynn, ran an ad in Tuesday’s issue of USA Today, calling attention to all of the Catholic universities in the United States which are producing “The Vagina Monologues” this month or next, asking people to e-mail the presidents of all of the universities listed with their objections to the play.
John Carroll was on that list.
“It’s not the first time,” Glynn said. He has been flooded before with e-mails due to the group’s efforts.
He added, “I do not respect the Cardinal Newman Society’s leadership.”
In reaction to the society’s actions, Flannery said, “I think the Cardinal Newman Society is the closest organization in the Catholic Church to the Taliban. [The Cardinal Newman Society] has used harassment and terrorist tactics to shut down the president’s computer system and to do harm to my department’s office,” Flannery said.
“If they can effectively cripple the president’s office, they will surely feel they’ve won.”
In response to the Cardinal Newman Society’s main objections to “The Vagina Monologues,” Flannery made three main points.
First, she said, “The play is part of an international group whose objective is to raise consciousness and efforts toward eliminating violence against women and children.”
Second, she said, “The play is not pornographic.” Flannery said that the play is a type of “guerilla drama,” which is designed to address an issue.
This type of theater, according to Flannery, is centuries old and has its roots in dramatic literature as far back as the middle ages.
Third, Flannery stated, “The play has nothing to do with abortion. The word is not even mentioned [in the production].”
Flannery has seen “The Vagina Monologues.” Her reactions were that the play contains “a mixture of comedy and a seriousness which borders on tragedy. It is a guerilla theatre—it uses the element of entertainment to get to some very serious and provocative concerns.”
“I am not worried about the ‘Vagina Monologues,’ but I am [concerned] about the Cardinal Newman Society,” Flannery said. “We are a university; we must raise issues of disagreement, related to interpreting the faith and related to free speech—to a level of discourse which respects the various positions on the issues.”
Flannery continued in saying, “The first victims of violence are women and children, and when efforts to address their situations and to raise consciousness about them are stymied by the comfortable and the powerful, the violence continues.”
Finally, she said, “Catholics have to have solidarity and openness to address violence. That is the teaching of my faith.”
“The Vagina Monologues” will continue at John Carroll next year if the students want it to, Flannery said. “[The students of John Carroll University] have academic freedom.”
BS, he's just trying to CYA. he should be fired for hate speech, after all I'm sure as a good liberal he would agree.
It looks as though he makes up his "ethics" as he goes along and then changes them when it suits him.
Contact the JCU President and others at:
eglynn@jcu.edu
carrollnews@jcu.edu
jsheehan@jcu.edu
John Carroll University (OH)
Rev. Edward Glynn, S.J., President
20700 N. Park Blvd., University Heights, OH 44118
Phone: (216) 397-1886
E-mail: eglynn@jcu.edu
J. Gerard Sheehan jsheehan@jcu.edu
Director of Public Affairs
216-397-4565
It's interesting (or perhaps not) that someone who teaches "applied ethics" should be in such small supply of any.
Whew! I'm glad he cleared that up. I thought for a moment that he wanted to insult people with values. /sarcasm off
Paul Lauritzen, director of the Applied Ethics Program and professor of Religious Studies:
“We need to tell our students that Bush is a liar and that many in the Republican party are essentially the Christian version of the Taliban”
Those who can't do, teach?
The heck it wasn't! What nerve, and the sad thing is this is exactly what they have been up to for years. Creating a bunch of godless lefties by brainwashing them in our schools.
Toledo Blade Claims Bishop Pilla and John Carroll Prez were to appear at John Kerry Rally
http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-religion/1288236/posts
LOL.
Yeah, I thought that was pretty funny, in a tragic sort of way.
John Carroll is a Jesuit school. I also attended a Jesuit school. I wish I'd gone to a Catholic school instead.
Thanks for the contact info. I wrote each one.
Ping
LOL!!
Some of the subjects he teaches and writes about:
http://www.jcu.edu/religion/Lauritzen/vita.htm
This is guy is a professor of religious studies. He teaches a course called Moral Decision Making. Un-freaking-believable that he's still a professor after this memo has been made public. An ethics profeesor arguing for disinformation. This guy has zip ethics.
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