Professor, UNLV at odds over lecture complaint

[Turley]

UNLV Professor Hans Hoppe rejected a peace offering Thursday from university administrators who had sought to penalize him for a controversial statement he made about homosexuals in a class lecture last year.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Feb-11-Fri-2005/news/25847462.html

[bluestateguy]

1. It's wrong to railroad Ward Churchill and it's wrong to railroad him

Professors need to be free to lecture without fear of politically motivated lawsuits.

[Skidmore]

3. The origins of this current iteration of McCarthyism is

right here:

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1213-05.htm

You have Smokin' Joe Lieberman and Lynne Cheney to thank for jointly spearheading this movement. This is why I'll never vote for Lieberman on a national ticket again.

[Hoping4Change]

6. Skidmore. This article deserves a thread of its own.

That comments like the one below are being are being cited as "anti-American is utterly reprehensible.


"A Yale professor is criticized for saying, ``It is from the desperate, angry and bereaved that these suicide pilots came.'' A professor emeritus from the University of Oregon is listed for recommending that ``we need to understand the reasons behind the terrifying hatred directed against the U.S. and find ways to act that will not foment more hatred for generations to come.''


:kick:

[Skidmore]

8. I first read this article when it came out several years ago. I was

always surprised at how little attention was paid and the lack of outrage at such an activity could again surface in American society. We have people still living who remember McCarthyism. It was not that long ago when people's lives were destroyed by overzealous adherents to a political ideology that demanded a witchhunt. I believe this think tank still functions and has a website. I don't know if Lieberman is still associated with it or not. I hope he got excoriated enough to disassociate himself from this assault on free speech and intellectual freedom. This venture should have served as a warning shot across the bow for what has been unfolding. Dems should not have been caught unawares by the viciousness of the right wing. God knows, it was staring them in the face all along. This is why I get so disgusted by the leadership in the party. I don't know what has to happen before they take these ideologues seriously. Do we have to go back and start the nation over again from scratch before something gives? Why do they keep giving it away?

[Hoping4Change]

9. The one person that needs to be outed is Lieberman. It is

reprehensible that he ever associated himself with this outfit. It would be more than interesting to know his present position which is why I thought this deserves its own thread.

[HereSince1628]

7. I believe in academic freedom but I'd modify your statement a little bit

With respect to academic freedom in the classroom...

Instructors need to be free to incorporate content in lectures, readings and/or media presentations into their courses as they deem appropriate and relevant to their courses and programs.

An instructors choices of course content and activities should be defensible within the context of the goals and/or objectives of courses or programs.

The concept I am putting forward should be recognized here at DU. It is frequently called on as the basic argument for keeping creationism outside biology courses.

Academic freedom also protects the right of academics to pursue lines of research, but that is a different issue.

[rayofreason]

11. Agree

HereSince1628,

I agree with your comments about academic freedom. However, academics do not have the right to commit fraud or to misrepresent data. Such actions are cause for dismissal. I would put including creationism in biology classes as a willful misrepresentation of data, or potential fraud, since the theory of evolution is the cornerstone of biology - nothing makes sense without it.

Professors may, on the other hand, hold obnoxious ideas and even publically promulgate them, without fear of loss of tenure. This puts a wide interpretation on your statement that faculty ".. choices of course content and activities should be defensible within the context of the goals and/or objectives of courses or programs. "

[seriousstan]

2. "he needs to make sure he is remaining as politically correct as possible"

"When the door closes and the lecture began, he needs to make sure he is remaining as politically correct as possible." There is a man in search of the unvarnished truth! <sarcasm off>

[LinuxInsurgent]

4. yeahh....

"well...we didn't find anything...keep out of trouble and eat your Greens.."

Yeah...that sounds like an apology....the administration did a witchhunt on him...and then didn't find anyting, and tried to get out without a public apology.

I'm with this professor, being an academic myself...i'm getting tired of our own getting tarred and feathered and having to weather the criticism and hate on our own...it was so cathartic to hear Ward Churchill say "Bill Owens...do you get it now" and "I'm not backing up an inch".

Indeed...we are trained to be critical thinkers...and we are faithful to that training and strive to be critical thinkers, even if conclusions make us unpopular...and then we get tarred and feathered for DOING OUR JOBS. I'm tired of it...intellectuals FIGHT BACK!

[LostinRed]

5. I go to UNLV

Hoppe is a dick. He wrote in an editorial recently how the welfare system keeps people lazy. This is just another example of his archaic conservative ideas. Part of learning in an University is being exposed to such ideas, it is up to the student to investigate these ideas and form their own opinions. I don't think he should be punished, just like I don't believe Churchill should be punished. Not matter how much I disagree with what both of them said.

[VegasWolf]

10. Excellent approach to higher learning, you should do well. n/t

[Xithras]

12. If I'm reading that right, he's actually correct.

Speaking in general terms, single people and people without children tend to invest far less money than married couples with children. Of course there are large exceptions. Of course there are incredibly rich single investors. But as a whole, averaged over the entire population, single people invest less and are far more likely to spend their income on their personal interests and hobbies instead of their IRA's and future childrens college funds.

Since the majority of homosexuals are both unmarried and childless (again, I know there are lots of exceptions, but we're talking about the entire population group), their spending habits tend to mirror those of unmarried and childless heterosexuals. The difference is that the majority of heterosexuals marry and have children, while the majority of homosexuals never do. Therefore, over the course of their lifetimes, homosexuals tend to invest less.

This was an ECONOMICS class, and they were talking about economic investment patterns. Certain economic realities are fairly well known in this country...Blacks and Latinos don't invest as much as whites (typically because they have less discretionary income), heterosexuals invest more than homosexuals (because homosexuals often don't have to create college funds and that sort of thing), men tend to invest more than women (again, because men still generally have larger incomes in this country). If a professor is going to be prohibited from discussing the realities of his own field in his own classroom, I'd have to ask what the point of even holding the class is?

For what it's worth, this is why I restrict my teaching to CS and math. They are far less controversial :)