Purdue Resists Calls for Firing Professor for Anti-Homosexuality Blog Post

[paulsby]

courtesy: http://volokh.com/2009/11/16/purdue-resists-calls-for-firing-professor-for-anti-homosexuality-blog-post/

posting by E. Volokh (links embedded in original)
From the Indianapolis Star, discussing this blog post (my backup version is here):


Some have called for Bert Chapman to resign or be fired for his Oct. 27 posting, which laid out an argument that the cost for AIDS research and treatment should factor into the national debate over the acceptance of gays and lesbians.

“The most concrete way to protect the university’s reputation against academic dishonesty and mediocrity is for him to resign,” said Purdue senior Kevin Casimer, who is organizing a petition campaign against the professor.

“However, if Purdue administrators and faculty make a unified statement that (Chapman’s writings) are unprofessional and detrimental to Purdue’s reputation and not reflective of the university, the same effect might be made.”

Purdue officials say they have no plans to discipline Chapman, a library science professor who serves as the university’s government information and political science librarian.

“There are many things on the Internet that would be offensive to a lot of people but protected by the First Amendment,” said Purdue spokeswoman Jeanne Norberg. “The best response is to speak up, which is exactly what our students and some faculty are doing.” ...

Note that Purdue is a public university, so that it indeed likely constitutionally barred from firing or otherwise disciplining Prof. Chapman for his speech. Private universities (even ones that get substantial government funding) are not bound by the First Amendment, but only by professional academic freedom principles and by contractual obligations under its tenure contracts (and other employment contracts). For more on this story, see this Inside Higher Ed column by Scott Jaschik.

[bluestateguy]

1. I have a real problem with firing professors over offensive speech

That's one reason why we have a tenure system in universities, to protect unpopular ideas.

Would we want professors fired for supporting stem cell research, or gay marriage, or believing in global warming, or questioning US foreign policy?

The shoe is on the other foot, and we have to be consistent. Firing this guy or forcing him to resign will start you down a path of dangerous precedent.

[vadawg]

2. good point, either everyone has free speech or no one...

[Starry Messenger]

3. No law against publicly humilating him though, thank goodness.

I'm sure everyone here is grateful John Yoo got to keep his job at Berkeley when his role in the torture memos came out. :thumbsup:

[bluestateguy]

4. Yoo was doing more than speech, however

He wasn't just a scholar expressing an opinion, which would be his right. Rather, he was an active participant in providing the legal grounding for a policy that violated American and international laws. He was actively solicited by the Administration and accepted their offer to help formulate an illegal policy.

This guy at Purdue was just sitting on his soapbox spewing his nonsense.

[Orsino]

14. The ultimate punishment for a professor: to be taken less seriously. n/t

[katandmoon]

5. THIS "idea" doesn't DESERVE to be "protected." It is hate speech! WTF should tenure protect that?

[paulsby]

7. it's not a tenure issue fwiw

it's a free speech issue moreso. purdue is a public university

if it tried to fire the professor for his blog posts, it would get sued and lose.

try reading the legal analysis at the link

[bluestateguy]

15. You are walking a slippery slope

You have effectively said that a university could fire a professor for saying that Christianity or Islam are phony made up religions.

The best way to counter ugly speech is with better speech, not sanctions or punishments.

[katandmoon]

18. Why should ANYONE in ANY profession be protected for spewing ANY hate speech?

[JonQ]

19. Define hate speech

in such a way that it could never be used to attack and penalize unpopular speakers.

[Viking12]

31. Obviously, hate speech in this instance = katandmoon doesn't like it

[JonQ]

32. Which is the problem I have with such laws

they will invariably become tools used by whoever is politically dominate at one point in time to suppress whoever is weak.

Apparatus designed to censor speech will always be misused.

[Viking12]

35. Agreed.

[bluestateguy]

23. Because he is not just another employee, that's why

He is a professor at a public university, not an office drone at some corporation. Professors deal in ideas, science and research, and sometimes that ruffles some feathers.

As long as that speech does not cross into advocacy of committing violence or overt harassment (no, offensive beliefs does not count as "harassment")

If your feelings are hurt by someone else's speech, then I humbly suggest taking your ears elsewhere and not running to Mommy and Daddy Government (Purdue is a state run school) to protect you and keep you safe from the mean old man saying bad things.

[paulsby]

25. because that's how america works

and should work. this is the new buzzword for the censors and the thoughtcrime people - call something HATE SPEECH and all of a sudden it doesn't deserve protection. that's crap. as i mentioned, purdue is a public university, and there would be MAJOR constitutional issues if they tried to discipline (let alone fire) the professor for what he said. the article linked and the comments have some great case law info on this, and it's pretty close to black letter law. if you say "christianity inspires a lot of evil acts in this world", many would consider that HATE SPEECH. so what? it amazes me how unexposed people are to the kind of routine hate speech that existed at the time of the writing of the constitution. political pamphlets etc. weren't exactly genteel. if you don't have freedom to spew hate speech, then you don't have freedom. it's really that simple

[JonQ]

34. Criticizing hate speech laws

is in itself hate speech. Why would you be opposed to them unless you wanted to be free to say offensive things?

Report to the nearest reeducation camp, your ideological purity is now suspect.

[paulsby]

37. that's doubleplus good.

i'll report right away to the Ministry of Truth. i am sorry if i offended against the principles of ingsoc

[Toucano]

11. I think this goes beyond unpopular ideas, though.

It is a poor reflection on the academic environment that a professor could make a public statement so void of reason and intellect as this one has.

If this professor were at Bob Jones University or a Jerry Falwell school, I could understand spouting this nonsense.

If this represents the caliber of academic thinking at Purdue, then they have some serious deficits in that department.

The school should let it be known that this religious based bigotry and not a reflection of the academic standards at Purdue.

[bluestateguy]

16. The university has the right to publically disagree

And say that his ideas are not a reflection of the university's values. That is fine and welcome. Firing him would be saying that the university does not tolerate people with different views. Indeed, a school like BJU or Liberty Univ. would have the right to fire professors for expressing unpopular ideas. A public university, however, should be a marketplace of ideas. Even bad ideas.

[Toucano]

24. Agreed. n/t

[Nikki Stone1]

26. Me too

As disgusting as this is, he should have the right to say it in academic surroundings. Of course, so should have Ward Churchill

[pinto]

6. Local rights groups respond (IndyStar) -

From the IndyStar article about the issue. ~ pinto

A statement by a coalition of West Lafayette rights groups, Pride Lafayette and the Purdue Queer Student Union said it supports free speech.

"Supporting free speech does not mean that there are no consequences for such statements," the statement said. "While it's clear that all individuals have the right to print anything they wish regardless of the lack of value or research, it's also true that statements in print (or in this case online) should be rejected and called out when they damage a segment of the community."

Jennifer McCreight, a Purdue senior from Munster, said on her own blog that Chapman's views are morally bankrupt.

"I'm seriously disappointed that such an ignorant and homophobic piece could be written by a professor here at Purdue. It makes me ashamed to also call myself a Boilermaker," McCreight said.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911120519

[PVnRT]

8. Um, Jennifer....have you interacted much with your fellow students there?

I would be shocked if less than half of campus agreed with this guy.

[theHandpuppet]

9. Perhaps Chapman would like a world with no women, as well

Health Buzz: AIDS Is World’s Top Killer of Younger Women and Other Health News
By Megan Johnson
Posted November 10, 2009

AIDS Is World's Top Killer of Younger Women

A new study released by the World Health Organization finds that HIV is the leading cause of death in women ages 15 to 44, the Associated Press reports. The study, which is the agency's first to look at women's health worldwide, identified risk factors for early death in the age group. Unprotected sex is a factor in 1 in 5 deaths of women of childbearing age, the agency found. WHO also reported that lack of access to contraceptives puts women at an increased risk of death, according to the AP.

http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/infectious-diseases/2009/11/10/health-buzz-aids-is-worlds-top-killer-of-younger-women-and-other-health-news.html

[Toucano]

10. The university should issue a statement.

It isn't his freedom of speech. It's the stupid thing he said.

I would think they would distance themselves from the stupid thing he said by making a statement to that effect.

[paulsby]

27. just like ward churchill

nobody should assume that THE UNIVERSITY (like there is some kind of monolithic entity that is the unversity. heck, some on the board regents might agree with him, i would ASSUME most don't) is represented by a single professor's views. god knows i would hope ward churchill's former university didn't represent some of his views, or that dershowitz's views are the same as harvard's views, etc. the problem with the university issuing a statement of disagreement is it sets a precedent. does that mean that everytime some nimrod prof . says something lame and the university DOESN"T put out a statement, that this is a tacit admission of approval? i would hope not. academics and intellectuals are prone to saying all kinds of controversial and hateful stuff, regardless of ideology - sontag called iirc the white race a "cancer" for example. par for the course, no pun intended

[HamdenRice]

12. He's proven himself to be an ass and idiot, but academic freedom is sacrosanct

Better he should be humiliated by progressive students by demonstrations.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

20. And by not enrolling his courses.

College students usually have a choice for the same course with a different professor, correct?

[Toucano]

13. Oh, he's a piece of work.

Get this blog post:

"My morning drive to work was invigorated considerably by the news of Ted Kennedy's death."

(snip)

"As a long-time member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Kennedy sought to expand the rights of criminals, lessen police power, was hostile to crime victims, and sought to ensure that federal judicial appointments adhered to his liberal government interventionist and anti-Judeo-Christian worldviews. Kennedy's shameful and fraudulent rhetoric against Robert Bork's Supreme Court nomination in 1987 cost that court the opportunity to have what could have been one of its greatest justices and show the abject moral character symptomatic of the Chappaquiddick Mariner. Much of the decline in the civility of American political discourse stems from Kennedy's infantile tirade against Bork but you'll never hear most media portrayals of the Dread Ted hold him accountable for it. Kennedy has also been particularly egregious in pandering to the leftist victim grievance mentality of many Black Americans instead of encouraging them to take full advantage of American opportunities by educating themselves and living moral and law abiding lives."

:crazy:

[Ratty]

17. Um, a library science professor is anti-gay?

As someone who works in library science I find that ironic. Other library type people will know what I mean.

[dsc]

28. I know what you mean

but my school's librarian is the only person who has given me any crap since I came out at school so it takes all kinds.

[JonQ]

21. Oddly enough this elicits outrage

typed words on a blog. But a black male professor beating up a white female because he didn't like what she had to say (no evidence it was racist or inflammatory) is defended.

[depakid]

29. I think you need more staw for that one...

[JonQ]

30. Except that it isn't a strawman argument

as the two situations are comparable.

Nice try though, really. You participated, yay!

[PVnRT]

22. Furthermore, if you want to study library science, head south and go to IU

They have one of the best library science programs in the country. Why pay more to go to Purdue and keep this jackass employed?

[DU GrovelBot]

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[KamaAina]

36. I agree that he should not be fired for homophobic speech

he should be fired for sheer stupidity.

AIDS is not a "gay disease". Indeed, lesbians have the lowest incidence of HIV infection of any group in the U.S. Not only that, in most of the world, AIDS is transmitted mainly through what this moran might call "opposite sex".

So Purdue's political science librarian is a :dunce: . Not good. Maybe they could put him inside the World's Largest Drum while the band practices for the Boilermakers' game against Indiana. :P

edit: spelling