Posted on 04/02/2005 8:50:22 PM PST by NormsRevenge
TEANECK, N.J. (AP) - An adjunct history professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University who hosts a webcast program called "White Viewpoint" has been dismissed for missing too many days of class, school officials said.
Jacques Pluss, 51, acknowledged he is a member of the National Socialist Movement, a pro-Nazi group.
University officials said Pluss was dismissed for missing too many days of a class, but Pluss said each of his three absences was excused with a doctor's note.
"What I suspect is somebody on campus discovered I crossed the line of political correctness," Pluss said.
John Snyder, dean of Fairleigh Dickinson's University College, said that Pluss was replaced because he had missed four or five days this semester and would not be allowed to return.
"It's not politics, it's hate mongering," Snyder said. "It's just hatred directed at the very students he taught."
Pluss will be paid for the remainder of his contract through the end of the school year, Snyder said.
Pluss, who has taught at the university since 2002, said he joined the National Socialist Movement in February but was careful to keep his views a secret on campus.
"I never mentioned my political affiliations to anyone on campus, either students or faculty," he said, adding that he was trained to bring objectivity to teaching assignments.
He was previously a tenured professor at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., from 1984 to 2000.
Natalia Galbetti, a Fairleigh Dickinson freshman from Brazil, said the anti-foreigner comments Pluss made on his Internet show were not consistent with the way he treated his students.
"He was always so nice to me," she said. "He knew that I was a foreigner. He definitely kept it out of the classroom."
What about academic freedom and free speech?
Clearly, this means that Mr. Churchill is expendable too.
Is this a start or just a publicity stunt?
If they want to clean national socialists out of education, they've got a LOT of work to do.
doctor's notes signed by a Dr. Mengele, I'd hazard to bet..
"Dr. Mengele" - LOL
Is this a start or just a publicity stunt?
----
He was previously a tenured professor at William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J., from 1984 to 2000.
---
My question would by why he left there in 2000?,, but I am the curious type. ;-)
University officials said Pluss was dismissed for missing too many days of a class
For missing class? What the.......the guys a frigging Nazi for crying out loud! He's teaching kids! This guy is probably one of thousands in the liberal universities.
Professor with pro-Communist ties dismissed...fat chance
Thousands of Nazis in liberal universities? Not bloody likely.
Yep why he left his previous job would be an interesting question.
At his current position he is an ADJUNCT, meaning part time temporary, Prof at a I think private institution, FDU. Adjust are ad hoc hires to teach a particular course. They can be let go at the end of any term for any reason.
They often teach night course that meet one day a week. If one ours missed 3 or 4 weeks, ie days, of class, they might well not be rehired next term, MD's excuse or not.
Churchill is a completely different story. But the how and why this guy left his last job might be a blue print for CU getting rid of Churchill.
"I believe that the ones you are thinking of are mostly "international" socialists rather than "national"..."
It depends on what flavour of "national" is. If we are talking about a National Socialism with respect to the United States, cries "No to Hitler!" would be louder than a 737-200 taking off 100 ft off you. If it is a National Socialism with respect to Germany, there will be usual protests. For France, perhaps there will be criticism peppered with "but it is understandable though wrong." For China (PRC), there will be mixed reactions of cheers and jeers. When you talk about National Socialism with respect to Cuba, everyone will dance on the street: "Yep, yes!"
Mr. Churchill was always expendable - he is a fraud - he lied on his employment application to the university - claiming to be an American Indian. He also lied about being a paratrooper when he was a jeep driver (I'm not knocking jeep drivers - but claiming to be something else show deceit).
HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED A LONG TIME AGO.
And .. for the record .. I don't give a rip what he says .. he's still a fraud.
Two points. Churchill has tenure and his views are embraced by the left.
Must be talking about a political system that demonizes opponents, shouting down dissenting opinions, government extending power and control of economic and social policies, a thinly-veiled attempt of dividing society into privileged to be treated well, and those worthwhile to be held in contempt.
Which sounds like US liberals (leftists) to my ears, except that where it used to be Aryans that were favoured in Nazi Germany, in our time it is everyone who believe in economic redistribution, self-loathing anti-West Westerners, and all non-Western nationalists that are privileged.
Well, manufacturing out of the whole cloth pretexts for personnel actions does not sound right. If there are genuine doctor's notes [supposedly presented to the employer on each occasion] it should be easy enough to look in.
Well, why isn't Churchill getting swift justice? It seems to me that the Nazi Professor got speedy justice.
The University of Colorado was threated by Mr. Churchill with a whopping lawsuit if they tried to fire him over his speech. However, his actions began to surface and all sorts of stuff has emerged - the 2 items I mentioned, plus an article he took from someone else and didn't give them credit - and a painting he transposed and claimed to be an original. Just deceit after deceit.
I believe he's still being investigated by the univ - it got delayed because of the new problems about the article and the painting.
In the meantime, the Univ Pres resigned - over some unrelated issue. That's all I know.
A professor who taught history this semester at Fairleigh Dickinson University made disparaging remarks about blacks and Jews on an Internet broadcast and is an active member of a group that calls itself "America's Nazi Party."
The university last week relieved Jacques Pluss of his classroom duties, but not because of his white supremacist views. Officials at the Teaneck campus said he missed too many classes.
Pluss said his membership in the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi organization in the country, did not color his teaching. The derogatory remarks were made during a Web cast he hosts called "White Viewpoint" on the organization's site.
"I do feel my First Amendment rights were violated because I hold unpopular views,'' Pluss said. "It was my association with the NSM that brought this about."
Officials at FDU, however, said Pluss was replaced because of the missed classes, about "four or five" this semester, but he won't be allowed to return because of his views. They say his Nazi affiliations and white supremacist viewpoints didn't come to light until after he was told not to return to class. Pluss has taught at FDU's Teaneck campus since 2002. He formerly was a tenured professor at William Paterson University in Wayne.
"As they say in the Midwest, we were snookered,'' said John Snyder, dean of FDU's university college.
"It's not politics, it's hate mongering,'' Snyder said. "It's just hatred directed at the very students he taught. His position would be untenable on the basis of student welfare. It's our job to see to it that students are treated with respect and security."
On a show first broadcast on March 22, the day after he got the ax, Pluss said FDU "has traditionally been a heavily Judaized institution" that has now become dominated by minority students who "float their way through school on scholarships and fellowships that are paid for by our tax dollars. It is a school that has been singed -not just browned, but singed."
He attacked basketball players attending FDU on athletic scholarships, referring to them with a racial slur.
"I have had many in my class of those on-scholarship, basketball players of ours who sit in the back of my classroom, all 6 feet 10 inches of them or whatever it may be, while they listen to their portable CD players with their earphones on."
He also criticized minority students attending FDU because of affirmative action and financial aid. "We're handing educations to people who are not capable by nature or by training," he said. "They're not capable of assimilating this education. Therefore, it devalues the education. And many of these minorities will graduate from the university with a toilet paper degree, as I call it."
Snyder said Pluss was informed on March 21 that he was relieved of his teaching duties, but would be paid for the remainder of his contract through the end of the school year. The arrangement was made on the advice of the university's legal department, Snyder said.
Pluss, 51, was an adjunct or part-time instructor. He was teaching one course this semester, History of Western Civilization II. Adjuncts are paid $1,500 to $3,000 per course, said Gretchen Johnson, spokeswoman for the university.
Pluss was a tenured professor at William Paterson from 1984 to 2000, when he resigned, the university confirmed. Stuart Goldstein, spokesman for the university, said he was unable to comment on Pluss's tenure.
Pluss, who lives in Bergen County, said he has long been involved in training show horses and left WPU to co-own a horse farm. He has advanced degrees from the University of Chicago and Oxford and is an expert in dowry law. Since becoming a part-time instructor at FDU, Pluss has taught both undergraduate and graduate history courses.
Pluss said he believes that his political views had been discussed, and denounced, at a faculty meeting earlier on the day he was relieved of his course. But Snyder insisted the decision was made based on the professor's attendance, and said he knew nothing of the faculty meeting.
Pluss said he was contacted by history department Chairman Faramarz S. Fatemi by cellphone on the evening of March 21. In a later radio broadcast, Pluss called the conversation "a cowardly Jewish plutocratic phone call."
Both Snyder and Pluss said the instructor had received good student evaluations. And, indeed, students seemed stunned at the racist rhetoric on broadband.
"He never showed his point of view," said Natalia Galbetti, a freshman in his Western Civilization class. Galbetti, who is from Brazil, said it was hard to square the anti-foreigner comments she heard on his Internet show with his conduct toward her.
"He was always so nice to me," she said. "He knew that I was a foreigner. He definitely kept it out of the classroom."
In his classroom lectures about World War II, Pluss focused almost exclusively on Nazism - Adolf Hitler, the movement's rise in Germany in the 1930s and its beliefs, said Adam English, a political science major from Montvale. But Pluss never hinted that he admired Nazis, English said.
"Even though he was mostly focusing on that aspect of World War II, it didn't disturb me whatsoever," English said. "A lot of teachers have partialities to certain aspects of history. I just assumed that was his interest."
What most bothered Galbetti and English was Pluss's string of absences. He canceled two or three classes in a row just before spring break, English said, and at least one other class sometime earlier in the semester. Sometimes he didn't give students any notice.
The dean said a replacement instructor, a doctoral candidate, was assigned to the class this week but that instructor has now asked to be replaced because of the controversy.
In a broadband broadcast this week, Pluss derided the new instructor's ethnicity and belittled her questioning the students about whether they studied the Holocaust.
In a telephone interview Friday, Pluss said it is the university, not he, that was harming the students. "To change instructors on students in the midst of a term is an unfair thing to do to the students, especially when the professor is perfectly competent and unbiased in the classroom,'' said Pluss.
He said he missed class only three times this semester and had called in to his department, as required, before each absence.
Pluss said he joined the National Socialist Movement in February and is active in the group's "ministry of information." He said he hosts "White Viewpoint" on broadband weekly and has done six or seven programs. The group's Web site features swastikas and racist rhetoric and on Friday had posted a condemnation of FDU on its home page, saying the school had engaged in acts of "left-wing McCarthyism."
When asked if he was a Nazi, he said "not in the sense of a 1930s Nazi, no." When asked if he was a white supremacist, Pluss said that "white supremacist viewpoints are part of the movement and anyone in the movement will hold those viewpoints."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.