Posted on 08/29/2006 6:26:42 AM PDT by aculeus
University of New Hampshire administrators are standing behind a tenured professor who has publicly theorized that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, even as Gov. John Lynch condemned his remarks.
Calling psychology professor William Woodward's theory "completely crazy and offensive," the governor said in a statement yesterday that he plans to address his concerns with the University System of New Hampshire Board of Trustees.
"Although academic freedom is important," the governor said, "if the UNH professor is promoting that view, it reflects a reckless disregard for the true facts and raises questions as to why such a professor would be teaching at the university in the first place."
Woodward is a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, an organization that maintains the Bush administration permitted the terrorist attacks to occur, and may even have planned them, so as to rally the public around its policies.
Woodward has discussed the theory in his classroom and has said he hopes to teach a new class that would explore Sept. 11 "in psychological terms."
Andy Lietz, chairman of the system's Board of Trustees, said he asked university administrators to review Woodward's comments in the classroom. He maintained, however, that Woodward may belong to any organization he chooses, and that he may present controversial material so long as he does it responsibly.
"I think he's absolutely wrong, and I'm disappointed that he would have those positions," Lietz said. "But he's an individual, and he has a right to have positions, as you and I have a right to have positions."
In a statement yesterday, the university's interim president, J. Bonnie Newman, said UNH encourages "the open inquiry of ideas."
"For me," Newman said, "there is no doubt that this tragic incident was the result of terrorists who had one objective in mind: to destroy the United States of America, the freedoms we enjoy and the principles that guide our democracy."
However, she said, "Among those principles is freedom of speech."
A similar controversy swirled in Wisconsin earlier this month, when legislators there called on the public university system to fire Professor Kevin Barrett, also a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth. Barrett retained his job and is teaching a course on Islam this fall.
Scholars for 9/11 Truth claims to have 300 members nationwide. Its founder and co-chairman, retired University of Minnesota-Duluth Professor James H. Fetzer, said about 75 of those members have "academic affiliations."
Woodward's critics, Fetzer said, are "arrogant in their ignorance."
"Of course, all of us have difficulty imagining our government could have attacked our own government," he said. "But do you know there are an awful lot of people who have paid attention to the evidence that are coming around?"
Fetzer's writings dispute the conclusions of the Sept. 11 Commission, whose 2004 report clearly states that the attacks were carried out by Islamic extremists under the leadership of Osama Bin Laden.
Fetzer argues the hijacked planes could not have destroyed the World Trade Center. Among other claims, he says several of the suspected hijackers have turned up "alive and well."
"Virtually every aspect of the government's position on 9/11 is provably false," Fetzer said.
Woodward also is a member of New Hampshire Peace Action and other anti-war organizations. In May, he and five other demonstrators were charged with criminal trespassing during an anti-war protest at U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley's office in Dover.
In an op-ed in Foster's Daily Democrat last month, Woodward accused Israel of committing "atrocities" against the Palestinians and labeled the U.S. as "directly complicit."
"The U.S. should stop support of Israel until it returns its 10,000 kidnapped victims, withdraws from settlements, and pays reparations," Woodward wrote in a piece published July 28.
The Professor doesn't know the difference between "keeping an open mind" and "acting like he's got a hole in the head".
He's not "crazy" - he's just a liberal, Marxist demoncrat.
Professors like that abuse tenure! Their defenders will shout
piously about academic freedom, but I believe these professors
are knowingly and maliciously spreading a false theory with the purpose of undermining the United States.
They need to find a professor to give classroom lectures on why slavery should be re-instituted in this country. Classroom exercise (whites only): calculate how many slaves you could own if the country "did the right thing".
Or would this material be too controversial?
What if a professor was allowed to teach math in the same manner. As long as it stimulated intellectual discussion, 2+2 could be 6. To hell with the facts. Academia is run rampant with the liberal, untouchable a-hats like this guy.
Hmmmmm........wonder who's side he's on? (/sarc)
Someone should sneak a copy of "The Bell Curve" onto his bookshelf. Then we will see how quickly the adminsitration changes their mind on freedom of education.
Oh BS...if this professor was a member of the Nazi Party and claimed there was no holocaust, or if he were a member of the KKK and espoused rascist doctrine, he would be gone in an instant...as well he should be. There is certain "controversial material" that can never be presented responsibly.
The abject double standard for the left wackos is really starting to iritate me...and it apparently is irritating the governor there too.
In addition to being a stark raving mad lunatic liberal, it also appears he's an anti-Semite.
The fact that Jamie Gorelick stonewalled the intelligence about bin Laden's cell prior to 9/11 and then sat on the board of inquiry investigating this imbroglio
doesn't do anything to dispel the suspicion that the government was in on the attack in some way, passively or actively.
"Virtually every aspect of the government's position on 9/11 is provably false," Fetzer said.
Then he needs to prove it. Thing it, he can't.
Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts
http://www.amazon.com/Debunking-9-11-Myths-Why/dp/158816635X/sr=8-1/qid=1156858615/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-5413973-4474451?ie=UTF8
I was thinking "palestinian arab" or "paid"
Would not a 'declaration of war' from Congress stop this nonsense?
That's exactly right....this is not about freedom of expression at all; it's about blame Bush, anti-Americanism, and ONLY the moonbat comments are allowed.
Freedom of expression is ONLY allowed when it's anti-USA or politically correct in furtherance of an agenda of the Leftists.
Opposite points of view are not allowed when they oppose socialism, lunatic leftists, or the ACLU itself.....
Just another leftist psycho with a strong penchant for the PC groupies. Ban him from teaching kids and let him continue his quest for the muzzies elsewhere.
Obviously, this guy would likewise have no problem with a professor who was a member of the KKK. Academic freedom, you know. /sarcasm
This guy sounds like he watched "V for Vendetta" a few too many times. Geesh!!!
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