Professor fired over Va. Tech discussion

MrBrian

Mon Apr 23, 8:28 AM ET
BOSTON - An adjunct professor was fired after leading a classroom discussion about the Virginia Tech shootings in which he pointed a marker at some students and said "pow."

The five-minute demonstration at Emmanuel College on Wednesday, two days after a student killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus, included a discussion of gun control, whether to respond to violence with violence, and the public's "celebration of victimhood," said the professor, Nicholas Winset.

"A classroom is supposed to be a place for academic exploration," Winset, who taught financial accounting, told the Boston Herald.

He said administrators had asked the faculty to engage students on the issue. But on Friday, he got a letter saying he was fired and ordering him to stay off campus.

Winset, 37, argued that the Catholic liberal arts school was stifling free discussion by firing him, and he said the move would have a "chilling effect" on open debate. He posted an 18-minute video on the online site YouTube defending his action.

The college issued a statement saying: "Emmanuel College has clear standards of classroom and campus conduct, and does not in any way condone the use of discriminatory or obscene language."

Student Junny Lee, 19, told The Boston Globe that most students didn't appear to find Winset's demonstration offensive.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070423/ap_on_re_us/professor_fired

RyeGuy

over reaction. if someone video taped what my professor did it could be mis interperated and he could have been fired.

darkcrow

RockMan wrote:

over reaction. if someone video taped what my professor did it could be mis interperated and he could have been fired.

you know they are not allowed to touch you... LOL only kidding..

seriously... that sounds so stupid. if you cannot say what you like in the classroom/lecture room then where can you? if the students have any sort of backbone they will join together and demand his reinstatement.

at our uni a few yuears back they refused to renew the contract of the best lecturer we had for no reason, so most of the 3rd year (i was in the 1st year at the time) converged on the office and demanded he be offered a new contract.

rebornFixer

Overreaction.
Typical of university campuses, though. Some viewpoints are OK, some aren't ... Despite universities being a "bastion of free speech". They are a bastion of leftist political thinking, in reality.

DPrival78

you have the riiiiight.. to free speech!

that is, of course, unless you're dumb enough to actually try it.

darkcrow

reborncareerist wrote:

"bastion of free speech". They are a bastion of leftist political thinking, in reality.

that's quite an overreaction in itself

hippiemom

MrBrian wrote:

The college issued a statement saying: "Emmanuel College has clear standards of classroom and campus conduct, and does not in any way condone the use of discriminatory or obscene language."

He pointed and said "pow." Am I missing something?

darkcrow

hippiemom wrote:

He pointed and said "pow." Am I missing something?

i guess the pen was loaded

MrBrian

hippiemom wrote:

He pointed and said "pow." Am I missing something?

I think it also said that most students did'nt have an issue with it. I think that's an important thing.

Pacomc79

Seems like a gross overreaction to me.

Poor taste depending on context and intent maybe but that's pretty lame if they actually fire him for it.

Any student complaining about that is ridiculous period. Find something more productive to do with your life than to find insignificant things to be afraid of.

rebornFixer

darkcrow wrote:

that's quite an overreaction in itself

No, it is not.

darkcrow

reborncareerist wrote:

No, it is not.

well at my uni it certainly is not a left-wing hive... its very diverse from aggressive muslims to conservatives to liberals to apathetics... to total drunks lol

rebornFixer

darkcrow wrote:

well at my uni it certainly is not a left-wing hive... its very diverse from aggressive muslims to conservatives to liberals to apathetics... to total drunks lol

Admittedly, my experience is based solely on Canadian campuses.

Uncle Leo

reborncareerist wrote:

Overreaction.
Typical of university campuses, though. Some viewpoints are OK, some aren't ... Despite universities being a "bastion of free speech". They are a bastion of leftist political thinking, in reality.

Exactly. This is liberalism run amok!

(Is there an eyrolling smiley?)
I really don't think this is a freedom of speech issue. If this is an innapropriate act, then it should be treated as such, like a sexual gesture or something. In any case, the reaction was an over-reaction. I think 20 seconds with the him would have been enough to make sure he does not do this again.

This kind of reminds of of a mock trial I was a "juror" for in college. A law professor and law students were putting on a mock trial and the "murder weapon" was represented by a bright green squirt gun. One of the law students ("prosecutor") in his closing remarks pointed the "gun" right at me to get his point across. It was almost unsettling, but no big thing. After that portion of it, the professor said "...and by the way, an attorney would never point a gun at a juror." I am sure that student did not need more than that. This was the University of Wisconsin, so it's hard to believe this very liberal and possibly communist university did not fire him, make him issue an apology to me and some animal rights groups, force him to donate money to the United Negro College Fund and order him to replace the Camp Randall (football stadium) astroturf with natural grass while being taunted by a "Take Back the Night" crowd.

BTW, I know nothing about this college, but most of the big liberal schools in the united states are not catholic: http://www.emmanuel.edu/about/default.asp

hippiemom

Uncle Leo wrote:

(Is there an eyrolling smiley?)

:rolleyes:

rebornFixer

Uncle Leo wrote:

Exactly. This is liberalism run amok!

(Is there an eyrolling smiley?)
I really don't think this is a freedom of speech issue. If this is an innapropriate act, then it should be treated as such, like a sexual gesture or something. In any case, the reaction was an over-reaction. I think 20 seconds with the him would have been enough to make sure he does not do this again.

This kind of reminds of of a mock trial I was a "juror" for in college. A law professor and law students were putting on a mock trial and the "murder weapon" was represented by a bright green squirt gun. One of the law students ("prosecutor") in his closing remarks pointed the "gun" right at me to get his point across. It was almost unsettling, but no big thing. After that portion of it, the professor said "...and by the way, an attorney would never point a gun at a juror." I am sure that student did not need more than that. This was the University of Wisconsin, so it's hard to believe this very liberal and possibly communist university did not fire him, make him issue an apology to me and some animal rights groups, force him to donate money to the United Negro College Fund and order him to replace the Camp Randall (football stadium) astroturf with natural grass while being taunted by a "Take Back the Night" crowd.

Your sarcasm makes me laugh ...

My point re. liberalism still stands. My initial hunch was that the point this prof tried making fed into the firing. Maybe it did not. I agree that the behavior itself was in very poor taste ... I also agree that a reprimand would have sufficed, as opposed to a firing.

Uncle Leo

hippiemom wrote:

:rolleyes:

I thank you.

Unless you were rolling your eyes at me, in which case..."Hey, screw you!"

(Is there a winky smiley--Yes there is )

hippiemom

Uncle Leo wrote:

I thank you.

Unless you were rolling your eyes at me, in which case..."Hey, screw you!"

(Is there a winky smiley--Yes there is )

Nah, just being helpful

There are plenty of people on this board to roll eyes at, but you're not one of them

rebornFixer

hippiemom wrote:

Nah, just being helpful

There are plenty of people on this board to roll eyes at, but you're not one of them

Neither am I, mind.

Byrnzie

reborncareerist wrote:

Some viewpoints are OK, some aren't ... Despite universities being a "bastion of free speech". They are a bastion of leftist political thinking, in reality.

And so they should be. Although, in my experience this is no longer the case.

http://www.publicanthropology.org/Journals/Engaging-Ideas/chomsky.htm

Or check this out sometime:

http://www.amazon.com/Representations-Intellectual-1993-Reith-Lectures/dp/0679761276

rebornFixer

Byrnzie wrote:

And so they should be. Although, in my experience this is no longer the case.

http://www.publicanthropology.org/Journals/Engaging-Ideas/chomsky.htm

I can agree with the view that universities should lean toward so-called liberal thought. But this means accepting some degree of centrism or middle-of-the-road thinking as a good starting point for rational discussion. Things often swing too far in one direction. Trust me ... People on campuses can be just as dogmatic and ignorant as some dude in a trailer park somewhere who never reads the newspaper.