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There Was This Guy With Unpopular Ideas
NMB, Florida January 27, 2002 A.H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on Issues, Ideas and Reflections on the Times. Published Now and
Then. Opinions Pro or Con Are Welcome.
THERE WAS THIS GUY WITH UNPOPULAR IDEAS
It is actually more than this. It seems that this professor of Computer
Science, a professor with tenure no less, was fired in South Florida. He
had made remarks that called for the victory of Islam and death to Israel.
That was 14 years ago. But, because these remarks were recalled it seems
that the donations to the University of South Florida have dropped. Ergo,
there is a connection to this professor who usually teaches computer science
solely and thus it was found necessary to fire him.
It is a given that if there ever was a forum where free speech exists it is
within the hallowed halls of colleges and universities. It is assumed that
if you are smart enough to get into one of these institutions that you
cannot be harmed by ideas that are sold by the yard in all the classes. It
is believed that if you go into a class and find dogma there that this class
is a fraud. When professors find time in their schedules to make asses of
themselves this is just one of the hallmarks of the free market place of
ideas.
This tenured professor was deemed bad now for words uttered years ago. He
was dismissed because some donors protested his presence. What is the
meaning of tenure if not free speech for the teaching professor?
When I professed I was the worst pain in the ass for the administration for
I probably made an ass of myself more times than most. I was famous for lack
of taste or propriety towards my betters. My mouth was going all the time
and I urged the other usually timid professors to add their voices together
with mine. My possession of tenure made it possible for me to be like that
and persevere as a teacher. My students were not afraid of retaliation when
they complained TO me. I urged them to speak, to talk, to complain and to
think. It is a reality for students to be afraid to do other than agree
completely with other teachers. When students complain to the administration
or the newspapers then you are in trouble.
What I find perfectly ridiculous is administrations that close their eyes
to poor teaching, abuse of students and generally a teacher getting away
with not doing his or her job as agreed when that person was hired. The
administration should be fired for not doing its job in getting someone who
was qualified for the job in the first place. When football teams lose
coaches who put those teams together are fired. Players can talk all they
want; their performance on the field is all-important. We have seen many
instances where stupid remarks by foul-mouthed or racist oafs are ignored
because of the value of these oafs on the playing field. I think it is safe
to say that there are many professors of genius in their fields who are oafs
in social situations and whose other ideas mark them as idiots. What were
they hired to teach, anyway?
I think that unpopular people like the New Jersey Professor, Jeffries, who
are invited to campuses because of their notoriety should come, and the
opposition to his ideas should be heard. Can ideas hurt? Yes they can, but
false ideas can be shown to be false if there is free interplay of those
ideas and opposing ideas. That, I think, is one of the freedoms democracy
assures us and one that we should insist be implemented in this South
Florida case. Are not the destruction of the public school system, the
butterfly ballots and ruining Lake Okeechobee enough?
That tenure business assured that I could continue to shoot my mouth off
without fear. Before tenure was awarded to me I was a bit more careful.
Carol's Evaluation: first 8 and with changes, 9 out of 10.
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