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.”
Perhaps the person to investigate should be Velvie Green, Ph.D. President of the college....but then Ms. Green is most likely one of many in Janet Napolitano's vast stable of Socialists.
mentioned God didn’t it?
AZ alert.
The Proclamation in question:
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”
NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;— for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;— for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;— and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;— to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.
Also, the idiot reporter got the date wrong - it is 1789, not 1798. John Adams wrote the 1798 proclamation.
Should have sent a Che Guerra speech to make these guys happy.
Raul M Grijalva was on the floor of the House of Representatives on March 29, 2007 asking for a National Holiday to celebrate the birthday of Che Guevara.
There has to be more to this story doesn’t there?
If there’s been a precedent set by other “acceptable” unsolicited e-mails from other staff without complaint, then the university should reinstate immediately, with a sincere apology. Math instructors are hard to come by. Women’s Studies and Sociology: they’re a dime-a-dozen!
Can the professor counter-sue?
Good for this Professor. He will be blessed.
I was always taught...If you have a conviction, you must be willing to pay a price for it, a sacrifice. Otherwise ponder the thought and decide where you really stand.
Good for this Professor. He will be blessed.
I was always taught...If you have a conviction, you must be willing to pay a price for it, a sacrifice. Otherwise ponder the thought and decide where you really stand.
Dissent from the party line will not be tolerated in public institutions of indoctrination.
George Washington’s “Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1798.”
Doubt it. George Washington is considered an emeny by the radical left infesting college campii. Why? Christian, white, male, slaveholder. The faculty members probably also had panic attacks when they read the word "God" in GW's proclamation.
“Can the professor counter-sue?”
Yes. As someone in academia (but not for much longer), I thank God for organizations like FIRE. Please remember them when you are thinking of worthy donations (like the Scooter Libby Defense Fund).
Note: I have no vested interest, financial or otherwise, in FIRE.
bttt
the idiot reporter got the date wrong - it is 1789, not 1798. John Adams wrote the 1798 proclamation.
In clear conscience I have to say that no employer has a right to his job absent a written contract specifying terms of dismissal, yet this certainly makes the school look both bad and silly.
If he applies for unemployment benefits he will probably win his case.
Right after that, old Abe found it in his heart to bless Al Gore and still fit in a night at the theatre.
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