Posted on 11/19/2002 6:25:32 AM PST by mikeb704
Last week’s column was about Peter Kirstein, a professor of history at Chicago’s St. Xavier University. Dr. Kirstein had emailed an Air Force Academy cadet, calling the student a disgrace to his country and condemning him for his baby killing tactics, among other things. The email generated a great deal of controversy. Both the professor and SXU’s president heard from many people who don’t share Kirstein’s views.
As I wrote last week, the professor should have been fired. Last Sunday, the university’s president announced his decision to suspend Kirstein from teaching and to assign him to other duties for the rest of this semester. What is that, one whole month? Ouch.
Not only that, but Professor Kirstein will receive an administrative reprimand and have a copy of it placed in his personnel file. That really smarts I’ll bet.
Moreover, Dr. Kirstein’s future contracts with the school will include an addendum requiring him to abide by university policies. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
I will give the university credit for realizing Kirstein’s actions required disciplinary action. Some colleges would have done nothing, other than maybe issuing him an atta boy letter.
At the same time, I think the punishment is woefully inadequate. Suppose the professor had sent an email saying Lincoln should never have freed the slaves. Or arguing that homosexuals should be stoned to death. Or asserting that women are good for nothing but childbearing.
I guarantee that he wouldn’t have been let off so lightly. And with good reason. Such offensive ideas reflect very poorly on the university at which he’s employed. They call into question the quality of instruction offered by the school. They are an embarrassment that demands firm and unequivocal action by the institution.
So why should telling a young man that he’s a disgrace because he wants to serve his country in the military warrant any less serious a response? There aren’t many parents who, when looking for a college for their child, search out schools at which men and women in uniform are considered baby killers.
"Gee, honey, here’s a university where one of the professors believes that American soldiers are worse than the Washington snipers. Not only that, he’s dedicated to challenging American unilateralism. I think we finally found just the right place for Junior!"
Defenders of Mr. Kirstein may point to the concept of academic freedom. An organization to which he belongs, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), has a statement of principles pertaining to that. In part it notes:
"When they (college and university teachers) speak or write as citizens, they should be free from institutional censorship or discipline, but their special position in the community imposes special obligations. As scholars and educational officers, they should remember that the public may judge their profession and their institution by their utterances. Hence they should at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, should show respect for the opinions of others, and should make every effort to indicate that they are not speaking for the institution." My sense is that Dr. Kirstein totally failed in complying with that principle.
Since I don’t think Mr. Kirstein wrote his email as merely a citizen, but as a professor at St. Xavier University, I don’t believe academic freedom is even an issue here. To me, that term generally means the freedom of an instructor to discuss his subject in the classroom. The university’s president told the Chicago Tribune that the professor’s email was not protected by academic freedom.
Last week my column had above it the title, "SXU prof exercises academic freedom." The subtitle was "Views on U.S. power depart from the herd." I don’t think those accurately described the substance of the piece. They were added during the editing process.
I also don’t believe that Dr. Kirstein’s views about the U.S. military place him outside the mainstream of many in the academic world. Back in the 1968 election, Princeton’s faculty gave the comedian Dick Gregory, running as a write-in candidate for the Freedom and Peace Party, the same percentage of its vote (seven) as it did the winner, Richard Nixon. Gushing liberal Hubert Humphrey racked up 65 percent.
If anything, the situation has worsened as the protesters of the 60s have become the teachers of today. The professor’s perspective is one shared by all too many other academics.
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Just as I pictured him. |
Another fruity, "I'm-so-brilliant-intellectual-and-full-of-myself", limp-wristed, cowardly leftist.
Love the sweater...
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