Posted on 12/07/2004 1:03:21 PM PST by metalmanx2j
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.
Were 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.
I think college professors are "essentially" the Stalinist version of the common idiot.
That is competely untrue and if you say that again I am going to drop a wall on you.
Gosh, I haven't seen Bush or other Republicans (except that loony Tom Coburn) advocating killing people for reasons no good.
I think this college professor should understand that Islam is inherently violent, while Christianity is far more peaceful. A comparison between Bush and the Taliban is just insane.
No no, of course not! How could any Christian Talibanner think that?
Dan
Biblical Christianity web site
Biblical Christianity message board
Biblical Christianity BLOG
College academia has done a lot to expose itself as a fraud in the last 4 years. No wonder enrollment is going down.
Louder please, "professor."
Something keeps muffling the sound of your voice.
When I saw the thread title, I just knew it was about a professor at a "Catholic" university.
and this guy is an ETHICS professor?
He's right. Let's report him to our head Mullah and have his head lopped off.
He's apologetic for the anger, and apparently for his choice of words, but he's remarkably unapologetic for conspiring to spread disinformation to students, to abusing his position as a teacher and mentor, throwing out all pretense of intellectual honesty, and for betraying the trust of students. He should no longer be teaching.
He should be glad he wasn't my student in English comp...a freshman would have had to rewrite that until he understood the difference between: "these people do things I don't like, and these are the reasons why" and "these other people do things that are totally evil by even my standards and these are what they do," and "Compare and contrast these two groups that have very little in common."
He must have dropped too much happy juice and now has scrambled synapses.
off with his hands.
"head Mullah.."
*snicker*
The prof is a poopyhead.
Is anyone else getting as sick of these "apologies' as I am?
They get their point across,get the publicity,apologize,and all is well.
I say....STFU!!!
Joe Stalin had a way with dealing with Educators. Sometimes I think he was right. This is one of those times.
Here's his photo and current courses.
http://www.jcu.edu/religion/Lauritzen/lauritzen.asp
Catch the irony of this guy teaching a course about "Moral Decision Making"...
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