Student activist group Turning Point USA broke a story concerning Professor John McAdams of Marquette University. The conservative educator has been teaching at the university for thirty-five years, and recently criticized liberal professor Cheryl Abbate in a blog post for banning students from discussing gay marriage in her class. Abbate’s justification for the ban was that the comments would be “homophobic” and would “offend” any gay students in the class.
After McAdams blog post went viral, he received the following email from Dean Richard Holz.
Dear John:The university is continuing to review your conduct and during this period–and until further notice–you are relieved of all teaching duties and all other faculty activities, including, but not limited to, advising, committee work, faculty meetings and any activity that would involve your interaction with Marquette students, faculty and staff. Should any academic appeals arise from Fall 2014 semester, however, you are expected to fulfill your obligations in that specific matter.Your salary and benefits will continue at their current level during this time.You are to remain off campus during this time, and should you need to come to campus, you are to contact me in writing beforehand to explain the purpose of your visit, to obtain my consent and to make appropriate arrangements for that visit. I am enclosing with this letter Marquette’s harassment policy, its guiding values statement, the University mission statement, and sections from the Faculty Handbook, which outline faculty rights and responsibilities; these documents will inform our review of your conduct.Sincerely,Richard C. Holz, Ph.D. Dean
Marquette’s behavior is downright shameful, especially considering the university’s Guiding Values which state in part that they, “nurture an inclusive, diverse community that fosters new opportunities, partnerships, collaboration, and vigorous yet respectful debate.” Marquette’s response to the outrage is to cite their very own Guiding Values as reason for the dismissal. “This is a matter of official policy, but it is also a matter of our values,” President Michael R. Lovell said in an open letter. “Respect is at the heart of our commitment to the Jesuit tradition and Catholic social teaching.”
For his part, McAdams does not understand Marquette’s response. “I don’t know what the point of that is. It’s as though I was suspected of terrorist activity or something. what in the world is going on there I don’t know,” McAdams said in an interview with Fox6. It seems that Professor Abbate believes more in her right to not be offended than in the first amendment. Free speech is constantly in peril on college campuses, and those who try to silence dissent cannot be allowed to win. Turning Point USA is organizing a protest for the professor on Monday night, and have started a petition on change.org to reinstate McAdams as soon as possible.
[about_faith]
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