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Professor defends Web site [Jihad Jane of NC Wesleyan]
Rocky Mount [NC] Telegram ^ | Saturday, May 14, 2005 | George A. Chidi

Posted on 05/17/2005 5:35:06 AM PDT by Constitution Day

Professor defends Web site

By GEORGE A. CHIDI, Rocky Mount Telegram

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Not all of the e-mail Professor Jane Christensen has received in the last few weeks has been death threats, she said.

"A lot of it is positive," said the N.C. Wesleyan College political science professor at the heart of controversy about a course criticizing the official accounts of the 9/11 attacks. "A lot of people have been very supportive."

The herky-jerky revelations about Christensen's views emerged in online Web logs, also called blogs, linking back to commentary from Web sites such as Frontpagemag.org and Townhall.com, excoriating the professor for challenging the government's account of the terrorist attacks.

The articles refer back to the syllabus for "9/11: The Road To Tyranny" posted on her faculty Web site, which notes that the course is "‘unscientific' in that it relies much on eyewitness accounts and speculation," and that it relies "somewhat extensively on alternative news media accounts and a variety of films and videos in lieu of literature."

Bloggers began linking to Mike Adams' "Jihad Jane and the Jews" article almost immediately after its publication in April. Hate mail, a trickle before the story, became a flood.

"That article basically invited people to wage a campaign against me," Christensen said. "What people should really be looking at is not my syllabus and my Web site, but the government's story on 9/11. Basically, the government lied."

Christensen said she believes some of the reported hijackers from 9/11 are actually alive — a matter of mistaken or stolen identity documented by mainstream media in Europe — and that the government is engaged in a massive cover-up.

"This is what (angers me) so much about this; they want to kill the messenger," she said. "You've got to understand that academic freedom is under attack all over this country."

Dr. Ian Newbould, Wesleyan's president, defended open debate in the classroom in his May 8 graduation address at the Dunn Center.

"Open minds, open to debate, unafraid of curiosity, have thus been recognized as the goal of an education for more than two millennia," he said. "In that sense, right or wrong opinions, or popular or unpopular views, are not relevant and should not be the issue."

But the question of academic freedom is a straw man deflecting criticism from the question of the academic rigor of the course itself, argued a policy analyst from the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, a conservative education policy think tank in Raleigh.

"This course gives a very narrow, one-sided view of the subject matter," said Jon Sanders of the Pope Center. The use of blogs, apocryphal material and sources which have not undergone peer review in an academic course lends university credibility to material that may not deserve it, he said.

"I don't like this way of responding to criticism by saying you're jeopardizing academic freedom," Sanders said. "It's a response to something else, and not the criticism. ... Certainly the university has every right to ensure that its courses are rigorous and teach the discipline."


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: academia; barkingmoonbats; jihadjane; moonbats; morethorazineplease; northcarolina; rockymount
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1 posted on 05/17/2005 5:35:07 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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Previous thread:

Web site stirs up criticism [Jihad Jane of NC Wesleyan]
(April 23, 2005)

2 posted on 05/17/2005 5:40:37 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: TaxRelief; Alia; 100%FEDUP; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; ~Vor~; A2J; a4drvr; Adder; Aegedius; ...

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day, TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.
3 posted on 05/17/2005 5:40:59 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: Constitution Day
"You've got to understand that academic freedom is under attack all over this country."

No. You have a barking moonbat of a professor teaching hints, rumors, and innuendos. The university has a responsibility to at least vet the facts before they let this yo-yo start filling young minds with this claptrap.

4 posted on 05/17/2005 5:44:17 AM PDT by Terabitten (I have a duty as an AMERICAN, not a Republican. We can never put Party above Nation.)
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To: Constitution Day
"You've got to understand that academic freedom is under attack all over this country."

No, academic LIBERALISM is under attack all over this country by a people no longer willing to mindlessly swallow your poison. Your free reign to indoctrinate the youth of America is coming to an end. Deal with it.
5 posted on 05/17/2005 5:48:26 AM PDT by reagan_fanatic (The theory of evolution is the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century - Michael Denton)
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To: Terabitten
You've got to understand that academic freedom is under attack all over this country." Cry me a river
6 posted on 05/17/2005 5:57:04 AM PDT by FROGTOWN CONSERVATIVE
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To: Constitution Day
"Open minds, open to debate, unafraid of curiosity, have thus been recognized as the goal of an education for more than two millennia," he said. "In that sense, right or wrong opinions, or popular or unpopular views, are not relevant and should not be the issue." - Dr. Ian Newbould, Wesleyan's president.

Well, in that case, Doctor Newbould, let's see you institute "The Earth is Flat," and "Holocaust is Hoax" and other subjects in which wrong opinions are held. Afterall, untruth should not be the issue, as you say yourself, Doctor.

Incredible!

7 posted on 05/17/2005 5:59:16 AM PDT by tgslTakoma
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To: Constitution Day
Christensen said she believes some of the reported hijackers from 9/11 are actually alive..."You've got to understand that academic freedom is under attack all over this country."

It's a pity so much education was wasted on someone so idiotically foolish they, for an attempt to discredit the Bush Administration, could possibly believe anyone could survive either of those plane impacts. Academic freedom isn't under attack, gross ignorance and stupidity is, and always has been. She epitomizes it.

8 posted on 05/17/2005 6:12:32 AM PDT by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: Constitution Day
The question of academic freedom is a straw man deflecting criticism from the question of the academic rigor

Chirstiansen, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

9 posted on 05/17/2005 6:26:37 AM PDT by GVnana
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To: azhenfud
What do you mean none of the hijackers lived? Mohammed Attah's own father, the next day took to TV screens saying his son was still alive and it was all a lie.

Of course, nearly 4 years later he has yet to produce his son in person.

And further, I can't believe you and others actually believe that the Pentagon was hit by a plane. Nonsense! We all know President Bush, in his quest for absolute power had explosive charges placed at the Pentagon and also had missles fired at it.

10 posted on 05/17/2005 6:52:53 AM PDT by Phantom Lord (Advantages are taken, not handed out)
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To: Phantom Lord

PL, I'm saddened you've revealed I'm part of this massive coverup.


11 posted on 05/17/2005 6:56:51 AM PDT by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: Constitution Day
Ah another excellent example of Orwell's observation:

"There are certain things one has to be an intellectual to believe, since no ordinary man could be so stupid."

12 posted on 05/17/2005 7:31:03 AM PDT by George Smiley (This tagline deliberately targeted journalists.)
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To: Constitution Day
"excoriating the professor for challenging the government's account of the terrorist attacks."

She did more than "challenge the government's account of the terrorist attacks." She gave credence to wacko, easily refuted conspiracy theories.
13 posted on 05/17/2005 8:08:06 AM PDT by Steve_Seattle
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To: Constitution Day
Christensen said she believes some of the reported hijackers from 9/11 are actually alive.

Pretty much shows her hand right there.
14 posted on 05/17/2005 8:23:02 AM PDT by mtbrandon49
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To: Constitution Day

She is now being recruited by Newsweek


15 posted on 05/17/2005 8:52:37 AM PDT by jec41 (Screaming Eagle)
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To: tgslTakoma
Well, in that case, Doctor Newbould, let's see you institute "The Earth is Flat," and "Holocaust is Hoax" and other subjects in which wrong opinions are held. Afterall, untruth should not be the issue, as you say yourself, Doctor.

Hah! I'm still waiting to see these so-called academics do something about the Great Moon Hoax!

16 posted on 05/17/2005 9:09:55 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("You would have to double your IQ to be stupid. " --zip)
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To: Phantom Lord

And don't forget, it wasn't a 747 that hit the North tower. It was just a Cessna loaded with explosives.

I never really understood what that was supposed to prove, though. I guess I'm not too good at this conspiracy theory stuff.


17 posted on 05/17/2005 9:49:38 AM PDT by NCSteve
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To: mtbrandon49

Here is the link to her cover-up links page:

http://faculty.ncwc.edu/Jchristensen/911coverup.htm

A must see...


18 posted on 05/17/2005 9:51:02 AM PDT by TaxRelief
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To: TaxRelief

Thanks.


19 posted on 05/17/2005 9:53:29 AM PDT by mtbrandon49
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To: tgslTakoma

That is an EXCELLENT point.


20 posted on 05/17/2005 10:05:09 AM PDT by Constitution Day
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