I obtained the front sheet of the police report filed Monday from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office (redacted to protect Mirecki's personal information):
Posted on 12/08/2005 8:26:48 AM PST by PJ-Comix
Kansas University's Paul Mirecki, the controversial religious studies professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives as "fundies," was allegedly beaten on Monday morning by two unidentified white men who he claims targeted him for his views. The Lawrence Journal World reported:
Douglas County sheriff’s deputies are investigating the reported beating of a Kansas University professor who gained recent notoriety for his Internet tirades against Christian fundamentalists.
Kansas University religious studies professor Paul Mirecki reported he was beaten by two men about 6:40 a.m. today on a roadside in rural Douglas County. In a series of interviews late this afternoon, Mirecki said the men who beat him were making references to the controversy that has propelled him into the headlines in recent weeks.
“I didn’t know them, but I’m sure they knew me,” he said.
Mirecki said he was driving to breakfast when he noticed the men tailgating him in a pickup truck.
“I just pulled over hoping they would pass, and then they pulled up real close behind,” he said. “They got out, and I made the mistake of getting out.”
He said the men beat him about the upper body with their fists, and he said he thinks they struck him with a metal object. He was treated and released at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
“I’m mostly shaken up, and I got some bruises and sore spots,” he said.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Officials are classifying the case as an aggravated battery. They wouldn’t say exactly where the incident happened, citing the ongoing investigation.
The sheriff’s department is looking for the suspects, described as two white males between ages 30 and 40, one wearing a red visor and wool gloves, and both wearing jeans. They were last seen in a large pickup truck...
If Mirecki was indeed the victim of this alleged crime, it is a travesty and a shame, and the alleged assailants should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
There is, however, another possibility: It could be a hoax. Mirecki's reticence, lack of specifics, and odd behavior are raising some doubts. Says one skeptic:
If a pickup truck was driving behind you in the early morning in a deserted rural area, and two men got out holding a large metal object, and you were still in your car, would you get out to go talk with them? ... How did those in the pickup truck find him? Were they waiting at his house? In that case Dr. Mirecki should have noticed them right away. How would they just randomly find him in the middle of the country?
Asking such questions may seem mean-spirited, but given the prevalence of staged hate crimes since the Tawana Brawley hoax two decades ago, skepticism is warranted. Just last year, an assistant visiting professor at Claremont McKenna College was sentenced to prison after she staged an anti-Semitic hate crime against herself. Earlier this year, a lesbian student at Mt. Tamalpais High School in Marin County, Calif., faked several anti-gay incidents to garner attention and sympathy.
Curiously, earlier Wednesday, Mirecki resigned the chairmanship of KU's religious studies department. (Resignation letter here.) According to Barbara Romzek, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Mirecki resigned on the recommendation of his colleagues. Strange. Do they know something we don't?
***
I obtained the front sheet of the police report filed Monday from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office (redacted to protect Mirecki's personal information):
As you can see (click for larger view), there's not much there. In a phone interview, sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Kari Wempe could not provide much more detail. She did tell me that Mirecki could not recall where the incident took place. And she said that 20 minutes ensued between the time the incident allegedly occured and when Mirecki reportedly contacted authorities. "It seems like a long time to me," Wempe noted, but declined to elaborate.
More weirdness via the University Daily Kansas.com: Officers clarify Mirecki attack details.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office initially labeled the attack on Professor Paul Mirecki a hate crime.
But the office removed the title today, calling the labeling a mistake.
Lt. Kari Wempe said that the error occurred Monday morning when the attack was reported.
Officers wrongly transmitted the information over the police radio, she said. It is not classified as an aggravated battery.
So what exactly is it?
I contacted the Lawrence Memorial Hospital for more details on the nature of Mirecki's injuries. Citing HIPAA regulations, a hospital spokeswoman declined to provide any more information. She did state that Mirecki was not hospitalized, as many MSM reports have claimed, but came to the emergency room and was "treated and released."
Mirecki told one reporter that he had "got the hell beat out of me,” but now the once-accessible professor is clamming up:
On Wednesday, Mirecki said he would no longer be giving interviews to the media.
"I've got too much of backlash from the reporting," he said.
One of Mirecki's colleagues, professor Timothy Miller, who once headed the department, said members of the faculty talked with Mirecki about his options before he made his decision to resign.
"There's been lots of conversations about what's good for professor Mirecki and what's good for the department," Miller said. "I hope this new development will be positive on both fronts."
Miller said he hoped Mirecki and the department could put the controversy behind them. There are students to teach and finals are coming up.
"We're living under quite a cloud and quite a burden these days," Miller said. "Paul has had a pretty rugged two weeks, and we've got work to do."
Interesting, no?
***
Bloggers covering the story from all sides:
Brainster's Blog is skeptical. So is Sean Gleeson.
More from The Moderate Voice and Classical Values.
Telic Thoughts boils down what's known and not known and rounds up the outrage of bloggers/commentators who have accepted Mirecki's version of events wholesale.
Stay tuned...
***
Update: Conflicting information about Mirecki's physical appearance the day of the attack in this article (hat tip: Verum Serum):
[Margaret] Rausch [an assistant professor of religious studies] said she last saw Mirecki at the religious studies department’s monthly faculty meeting on Monday [the same day as the alleged attack] and noticed “big swollen spots” on his face.
“It transformed his face,” she said.
Jesse Plous, New York senior, and Tiffany Jeffers, Shawnee senior, are enrolled in Mirecki’s Dead Sea Scrolls class. They said they didn’t notice bruises or scratches when they met for class at 12:30 p.m. Monday [about six hours after the alleged attack].
Lindsay Mayer, Holbrook, Ariz., junior, another student in the class, said she might have seen a small bruise on the side of his face, but said injuries weren’t extremely noticeable.
Mirecki didn’t show up for class on Wednesday. The students said Mirecki had never mentioned the controversy in class.
“It’s a good class, it really is,” said Plous. “It’s too bad he’s been steeped in controversy. I hope it pans out for the guy.”
Meanwhile, a Daily Kos diarist claims the attack is a "terrorist act as defined by the Patriot Act" but backs down from his claim that the alleged beating left Mirecki "within [an] inch of his life."
***
Related:
Hate crime hoax at Ole Miss
Colleges perfect milieu for hate crime hoaxes
Unhinged: The Mugshot Collection [scroll down to Kerri Dunn]
Another hate crime hoax
Crimes of the phantoms
Tawana Brawley goes to college
Muslim "hate crimes"
Myth of the Muslim hate crime epidemic
Controversial KU Professor Resigns
December 8, 2005 LAWRENCE, Kan. – A University of Kansas professor involved in the creationism controversy resigns his position just days after he is attacked.
Paul Mirecki is the educator who came under fire for wanting to teach intelligent design as mythology.
The religious studies teacher also sent out an email that said the class would be a "nice slap in the big fat face of fundamentalists."
Mirecki later apologized and the course was canceled.
He believes his resignation was appropriate.
Mirecki reported earlier this week that two men beat him and that they made comments about creationism.
Mirecki resigns from KU department post
December 7, 2005
The embattled Kansas University religious studies professor who drew ire from Christian conservatives for his derisive remarks on an online discussion board has withdrawn from his post as chair of the department.
"Professor Mirecki said he thought it appropriate to step down and did so on the recommendation of his colleagues in the department and I have accepted his resignation," said Barbara Romzek, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "This allows the department to focus on what's most important - teaching, research and service - and to minimize the distractions of the last couple of weeks."
Nice intelligent come back little Wolfie. Now go pee on a bush and do something useful for a change.
In other words, don't ping me again with your crap.
Please don't ping me again. I don't want to have to get rabies shots.
Sort of ironic to post a graphic that says 'Freedom to Think' when you just hounded a guy out of a job for expressing his thoughts.
With a bruise visible under his right eye, Paul Mirecki paid a visit Tuesday afternoon to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.
Mirecki, a Kansas University religious studies professor, has been in the national spotlight since he reported early Monday that he was beaten by two unidentified men who made reference to his controversial online remarks about religion.
Sheriff’s officials on Tuesday continued to investigate the case, and they’ve asked for the public’s help in finding the suspects Mirecki described: two white men in their 30s or 40s, one with a red visor and wool gloves, both wearing jeans, and driving a large pickup truck.
As he waited outside the sheriff’s office, Mirecki said he’d stopped returning phone calls from the media. And he declined to talk with a reporter about details of the case.
Within moments, a sheriff’s deputy came out to meet him and bring him into the office.
“We can always develop more information when we have an opportunity to talk to the victim a second time,” Lt. Kari Wempe, a sheriff’s spokeswoman, said. “I do not know what the purpose of that interview is.”
Mirecki, the chairman of the religious studies department, caused an uproar recently with his remarks on the Internet about an upcoming course in which he planned to teach intelligent design as mythology. He said the class would be a “slap” in the “big fat face” of religious fundamentalists.
Early Monday, Mirecki reported to deputies that he was driving in a rural area south of Lawrence when two men in a large pickup truck began tailgating him and he pulled over. He said he got out and the two men beat him with their fists and a metal object while making references to the recent Internet controversy.
He was treated and released at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
“I got the hell beat out of me,” he told the Journal-World on Monday.
Key facts about the reported attack remained unclear Tuesday, including exactly where it happened. A report released by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said the location was “unknown” and listed it as south of 31st Street on either East 1400 Road or East 1500 Road.
Louisiana Street turns into East 1400 Road outside the city limits. Haskell Avenue becomes East 1500 Road.
Also, there was conflicting information about whether Mirecki reported it at the scene or at the hospital. In an interview Monday with the Journal-World, he said he called police from the side of the road, but sheriff’s officials said they were dispatched to the hospital.
Mirecki declined to clarify the discrepancy when asked about it Tuesday outside the sheriff’s office.
“I can; I just don’t want to,” he said.
The sheriff’s report, which is classified as an aggravated battery, says that Mirecki suffered minor injuries. It says the incident started about 6:20 a.m. and was reported about 6:40 a.m.
KU faculty on Tuesday pondered the effects that recent weeks’ events would have on the religious studies department.
“I don’t think we know how it’s going to shake out yet,” professor Tim Miller said. “This is a difficult time to get through. I want to get through as well as we can.”
Religious studies professor Jonathan Boyarin said, “I hope that we will be able to move forward in our scholarship and teaching with mutual respect among the academic community and the people of Kansas and the larger community around us.”
Which position? Chairmanship or professorship?
Spinning again I see.
Trying to twist the story into insults on others.
Are you a lonely person. You come across as very bitter...do you have a girlfriend/wife? Whats your deal?
Gleaning from the several stories posted, I'd say chairmanship only at this point. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything happens, if it's found out that he filed a false police report.
Interesting that you interpret disagreement with your world view as 'bitterness'.
Does this mean Mirecki resigned his position as Department Chairman or as a professor?
Another staged hate crime. What a bunch of losers.
You know, don't they sound alike? And posting within a minute? Wonder how that would happen if you didn't have IM and getting marching orders from the Silent Grand Master?
The only other alternative might be ... nah. Couldn't be that.
Well, I didn't realize that Mirecki was a Havard Man.
I retract anything bad I ever said, thought or imagined about the man...
I dont' know if you read Harry Potter, but it puts me in mind of Malfoy with Crabbe and Goyle.
Chairmanship.
Yes indeed. Your silence, and those of almost all your sanctimonious brethren, in the face of numerous posts on FR wishing violence on Mirecki, certainly speaks volumes.
Regardless of what did or did not happen to Mirecki, the vileness posted, and allowed to remain posted, here on FR says a lot.
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