Posted on 05/07/2007 3:05:33 PM PDT by yoe
A tenured college professor is set to be fired for simply sending out an e-mail to colleagues containing George Washington’s "Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1798.”
Already professor Walter Kehowski at Glendale Community College in Arizona has been placed on forced administrative leave and the school’s chief has recommended his termination.
"It simply boggles the mind that a professor could find himself facing termination simply for e-mailing the Thanksgiving address of our first president,” said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).
On Nov. 22, 2006, the day before Thanksgiving, Kehowski, a professor in mathematics in the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) sent the e-mail containing Washington’s message to all MCCCD employees, using a district-wide service designated for "announcements.”
Within weeks, five MCCCD employees filed harassment charges against Kehowski, claiming his message was "hostile” and "derogatory.” They complaining employees also cited the fact that the e-mail contained a link to Pat Buchanan’s Web site, where Kehowski had found Washington’s proclamation. Buchanan, a conservative commentator, had also posted to his Web site criticisms of immigration policies.
On Jan. 3, 2007, MCCCD found that Kehowski was guilty of violating policies limiting e-mail usage to messages that "support education, research, scholarly communication, administration, and other MCCCD business.”
These policies also prohibit "mailings to large numbers of people that contain unwanted solicitations or information.”
However, MCCCD employees commonly use the "announcements” service to send out unsolicited information, according to a statement from FIRE.
Recent e-mails sent out using this service include an advertisement for purchasing goats for orphans in Uganda, quotes about Women’s History Month, and a reminder about the health benefits of eating bananas.
"To FIRE’s knowledge, not one of the senders of these e-mails has been forced to cease teaching or threatened with dismissal,” according to the organization’s statement.
On March 9, MCCCD Chancellor Rufus Glasper placed Kehowski on administrative leave and recommended to the MCCCD governing board that he be dismissed. Kehowski has since appealed that decision and will defend himself at a hearing before a panel of three faculty members on June 5.
Kehowski contacted FIRE for help, and FIRE wrote to Glasper on April 25 to protest the actions against Kehowski, asserting that e-mailing a proclamation from George Washington or including a link to Pat Buchanan’s Web site does not constitute punishable harassment.
FIRE reminded Glasper that the U.S. Supreme Court has held that for workplace expression to be considered "harassment,” it must be "severe or pervasive enough to create an objectively hostile or abusive work environment.”
Sending a link to a Web site, which readers can either visit or simply ignore, does not fit this standard, FIRE maintains.
Glasper responded with a letter on April 30, but failed to address any of FIRE’s concerns, according to the group’s statement.
"It is dark day for free speech and common sense in Arizona,” Lukianoff said.
"If the MCCCD believes at all in the importance of the right to free expression, or even just in basic fairness, it will undo its illiberal actions and exonerate professor Kehowski immediately.
"This situation is an embarrassment to MCCCD and would be laughable if a professor’s most basic rights and very livelihood weren’t on the line.”
mentioned God didn’t it?
Even worse, “Divine Providence”.
Right after they get rid of "In God We Trust"!
Time to sue them.
There’s lots of stuff floating around Google about this Professor.
“MCCCD’s Initial Assessment found on January 3, 2007 that Kehowski was guilty of violating MCCCD’s EEO policy and policies limiting e-mail usage to messages that “support education, research, scholarly communication, administration, and other MCCCD business.” These policies also prohibit “[m]ailings to large numbers of people that contain unwanted solicitations or information.” However, MCCCD employees commonly use the “announcements” listserv to send out unsolicited information. Recent e-mails sent over this very listserv include an advertisement for purchasing goats for orphans in Uganda, quotes about Women’s History Month, and a reminder about the health benefits of eating bananas. To FIRE’s knowledge, not one of the senders of these e-mails has been forced to cease teaching or threatened with dismissal.”
Source: http://www.thefire.org/index.php/article/8021.html
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Ignorance and rejection of history on this scale is more than deplorable, it’s a sign of the approaching dark age.
Thanks.
Looks like the reporter got the year wrong too ?
Help stop “Global Dumbing”
“A DAY OF FASTING & HUMILIATION (NOT THANKSGIVING!) 1798” was a proclamation by John Adams. :’)
I hadn’t noticed before that a link to Pat Buchanan’s website was in the email. That’s probably what people cranked.
No, the same thing that has happened to AZ is happening to VA.
Didn’t liberal New Orleans, pre-Katrina, remove Washington’s name from an elementary school? The anti-George Washington attitude is everywhere.
No kidding !!! But the numbers here are NOTHING compared to AZ. Yet.
Bump and the school’s chief can go to hell.
Retiring or just fed up enough to get out? What level do you teach? I'm in the public high schools and teach deep in the inner city. I thank God I should be able to retire in about four years. My wife will have full retirement and I'll be taking early retirement. What subjects do you teach?
It isn't just libs. Buchanan is less supportive of Israel than most conservatives/Republicans, and has pretty much said that the War on Terror is America's price to pay for its alliance with Israel, and that we're fighting on their behalf.
Some folks believe Buchanan to be an ant-semite. I'm not convinced of that. But even if he has no love for those who hate Israel, they love him. The company you keep.
Nothing was squelched. You have the right to say anything you want -- you don't have the right to use my server, or MCCCD's, or JimRob's, to do so. If this post is pulled, I'll protest on ethical grounds; but as a matter of law, JR's house, his rules, even if they're capricious and arbitrary.
Students can vote with their feet, can’t they? And yes, this jr college is publically funded. Cut off their money and you’ll see a 180 in attitude.
amen brother
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