Jewish World Review Dec. 20, 2001/ 5 Teves, 5762

Marianne M. Jennings

Marianne M. Jennings
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Free Speech and the political spectrum


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com -- I THINK the world of Dr. Brian Foster, provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico, but his disciplinary action against Prof. Richard Berthold, who told his classes after the September 11 attacks, "Anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote," is wrong.

The CUNY board resolution condemning a faculty panel in which one egghead referred to the terrorist attacks as "an understandable Islamic response to Western imperialism" is also wrong.

Professor Berthold and the panel are unprofessional and insensitive, but their remarks should be protected under the umbrella of academic freedom. As these faculty cry oppression, I offer the words of Bob Dylan, "How does it feel?"

The temptation to foist upon my pacifist comrades the hate speech codes they put in place and have used to silence conservatives is nearly overpowering. But, they deserve the response an administrator gave to those who have called for my termination and/or revocation of my degrees, "Her views, offensive though they may be, are protected."

Academic institutions' decisions on these ill-tempered and ill-mannered colleagues will seal the fates of us conservatives who will inevitably return to minority status. Handled correctly, these cases could remold campuses from monolithic towers of censorship dedicated to the indoctrination of the young minds to havens of thoughtful and civil discourse and research.

Those who have reigned over both thought and processes on campuses for so long did not achieve such power through scholarly superiority or triumph through fact and truth. The era of PC was achieved through bad manners and censorship.

There has been no meaningful debate on campuses since the Vietnam War. Jeane Kirkpatrick was shouted down at Berkeley. Charlton Heston, Clarence Thomas, Barbara Bush, John Leo and others have all been served with revocations of invitations to speak. David Horowitz was not only shouted down during his slavery reparations speech at Arizona State last spring, the academics with an interest in the issue scheduled a conflicting forum to ensure closed minds.

Just last week, Professor Christina Hoff Sommers experienced ugly wrath for challenging the "scholarship" of gender. An invited panelist at a Health and Human Services Conference entitled, "What is being done for boys?", Professor Sommers cautioned academics and HHS employees about expanding HHS's "Girl Power" program because evidence does not show the superiority of gender-specific drug and alcohol programs over gender-neutral ones.

Professor Sommers was interrupted during her presentation by Linda Bass, Acting Branch Chief in the Public Education Branch for Substance Abuse and Prevention (so there) and told to stay away from "Girl Power." When Professor Sommers continued, Ms. Bass demanded a break and caucused with officials for 15 minutes.

When they returned, Professor Sommers finished defiantly with data. One participant yelled, "You can prove anything with statistics," which got an approving roar from the HHS crowd. She then defended her methodology which caused Professor Jay Wade of the Department of Psychology at Fordham University to delight the crowd with, "Shut the f *** up b****." An HHS official then halted the conference. A tape of this circus has apologies flying.

The dissent of leftist academics is striking. There were no specific challenges to Professor Sommers' data; they called her a name. When they disagree with me, they don't point out error, they ask for my removal.

Professor Berthold's remarks are troubling because they evidence his loss, in the classroom, of the detached perspective of exploration. His case and those of Sommers, Thomas, Kirkpatrick, et al. illustrate two major problems that plague campuses: (1) lack of civility toward those with minority views; and (2) little honest intellectual inquiry. Those on the left, whether in the majority or minority, use emotion for persuasion while censoring dissent. The real victim is truth.

September 11 was an indictment of all academic experts on Muslim factions, the Middle East, and their beloved Western Imperialism. Where were their warnings and analyses of terrorists devoid of feeling and soul? Or were they too blinded by the hatred they feel for this country and too enamored of non-capitalists to see evil evolving?

Obnoxious anti-war faculty members deserve a reprieve for insensitive remarks, conditioned on their pledges to honest scholarship and open debate. Despite our temporary campus coup, we conservatives extend an olive branch. We hope that our leftist comrades who now know how it feels will now permit academic freedom, and not just for them.


JWR contributor Marianne M. Jennings is a professor of legal and ethical studies at Arizona State University. Send your comments by clicking here.

Up

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04/20/01: First, let's kill all the tests
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01/25/00: Stroke of the pen, law of the land: Clinton's Camelot
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12/14/99: Drop-kicking the homeless
12/07/99: Turtles and teamsters, side-by-side in Seattle
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06/17/99: True courage is more than just admitting troubles

© 2000, Marianne M. Jennings