Posted on 11/06/2002 6:17:31 AM PST by Apple Pan Dowdy
Peter N. Kirstein
Professor of History
Department of History & Political Science
Saint Xavier University
Chicago, IL
Phone: 773.298.3283
Fax: 773.779.9061
kirstein@sxu.edu
He said that he expressed "regrets". I'm sure he does regret making his hatred of America so explicitly known that it has had a negative effect on his career.
At no point does he say "I was wrong, I am sorry, I apologize".
He's a sniveling coward - and note how he put the cadet's apologies in quotation marks - implying that he felt the cadet's apologies were insincere.
All we need to know about Kirstein is this: if it were 1940, he would be marching in the streets to protest America going to war with Hitler, solely because his hero Stalin had signed a non-aggression pact with the Nazis.
That is his moral caliber.
In a more circumspect manner, I'm sure.
Wow, I never knew the U.S.A.F. hated the Auto Club so much.
Dear Dr. Kirstein-
Thank you for your intemperate, illluminating letter to the Air Force Academy Cadet. This sort of over-the-top, panties-in-a-twist squawling is EXACTLY what we militarists need to cut you lefties off at the knees.
Impugning this kid's honor, comparing members of the military to the nut-job snipers...your note is a shining & perfect example of the lefty hysteria so prevalent on American campuses today.
I'm sure your note is going to show up in newspapers and newsweeklies across the country- certainly radio talk shows are going to mention it- I imagine you're going to be recieving ever so many calls for interviews and comments.
But...you will probably not be afforded the opportunity to explain your views in any detail- you have already been pigeonholed as a loon. The only thing anyone is going to remember or hear about is your abusive email to the cadet. That email is going to make the rounds, and it is going to help us tar opponents of the war as whiny, unpatriotic, rude and intemperate nutjobs.
Again, I want to extend my sincere thanks to you for splatting a custard pie in the face of the left- reading your letter this morning made my day!
Who else thinks it's funny that a college prof doesn't know how to spell "rain"?
More from the professor's web site:
My Teaching Philosophy
- Teaching is a moral act.
- Teach peace, freedom, diversity, multiculturalism and challenge American unilateralism.
- Move beyond the ideological confines of academe.
- Instructors should be secure and unafraid to express their opinions. They have every right to do so and should be free to engage in academic revisionism in their field.
- When emphasizing key concepts in your field, confront the canon so that your "discipline" is challenged by questions and not affirmed with answers.
- Be demanding and have high expectations for your students. They will respond positively if they sense you are hard working, love your subject matter and are dedicated to their learning.
- Encourage student discussion and debate. Let them know you like to be challenged and that your ideas and values are not a form of proselytizing or domination but a honest effort at conversation.
- Teach what interests you even in a required "core" course.
- Publish papers and attend conferences that interest you. They always energize me and give me new ideas and fresh material for my teaching.
- Be prepared for occasional frustration when students don't always respond to your enthusiasim and dreams.
- Be who you are; don't try to reinvent yourself should you possibly be challenged by institutional culture. While you should be receptive to new ideas and respond affirmatively to formative and creative criticism, teaching is an intensely personal act-despite its public posture-and one should be true to one's beliefs and ethics.
It's forgivable in a poster, but pathetic in an academic.
He looks like a cross between Donna Shalayla and Janet Reno. He must really love to perform in front of his captive audience of college kids.
Xavier University of Chicago freshman class gender breakdown: 72% women, 28% men.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.