Where do you get punished for defending free speech? At a university, of course - Catholic

[gam197]

onenewsnow.com/education/2015/02/16/where-do-you-get-punished-for-defending-free-speech-at-a-university-of-course#.VPHM1F2zfIU

A Wisconsin university is punishing a professor who criticized an instructor for telling her students to support same-sex marriage in her class.

Professor John McAdams, a conservative political science professor, posted comments about the philosphy class on his Marquette Warrior blog, naming the instructor and describing the students’ account of the pro-homosexual propoganda he opposed.

Marquette is now trying to take away McAdams’ tenure after suspending him last December pending a review…

Marquette is a private Jesuit university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. About 11,700 students attend the school.

Is this still a catholic university?

 

[john_ennis]

How Catholic was it before, I wonder?
I ask because on the face of it, it’s hard to understand why Marquette would suspend this guy. Nothing in the articles gave their reason.
The professor he criticized is very typical of teachers today. They sincerely believe that to have a real debate about same-sex marriage would be like allowing a serious debate about whether Hispanics are an inferior race.
Here, though, at this school, to have such a view be unchallenged, is scary.
Peace.
John

 

[MacBP]

Universities aren’t nearly as supportive of free speech as one might imagine. After the Charlie Hebdo shooting, when many westerners were bemoaning the capitulation of the Western media in not showing the cartoons and fretting about freedom of speech on behalf of Muslims, I found myself wondering where there outrage was when anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage speakers are routinely silence. It’s true that the methods used to silence the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were far more file, but in principle the goal was the same.

The difference, primarily,is that while people tend to be ambivalent, or even hostile, towards religion they love abortion and gay-marriage and so they’ll vociferously defend the right to criticize the former while allowing, or even supporting, the suppression of the latter.An unfortunate reminder that, to some extent, westerns are only guaranteed those rights so long as said rights are popular.

 

[JimG]

Protecting Students from Catholicism at Marquette

 

[john_ennis]

The idea that opposition to same-sex marriage is so wrong it can’t be discussed in the classroom–that it’s as offensive as opposing blacks holding public office–makes sense, if your view of homosexuality and marriage is the same as this professor’s. It’s a big division in thinking between the Church (and deep thinkers on marriage) and the secular culture, and it’s bound to start resulting in legal punishment soon.
Peace.
John

 

[JackieO123]

Why don’t they just fire the secularist teachers already? They offer nothing but poison and lies.

 

[unstoppable_II]

Why don’t they just fire the secularist teachers already? They offer nothing but poison and lies.

Because university administrations generally agree with the secularist teachers. Full societal acceptance, if not endorsement, of homosexuality is the current cause célèbre in today’s academia. That’s how the movement was able to succeed so well.

 

[AClaire11]

So sad and disappointed to read about this sort of thing happening at Marquette…My husband is an alum.

 

[unstoppable_II]

Is this still a catholic university?

One might ask if it is an institution of higher learning based on the idea that the mission of higher ed is supposed to be the pursuit of truth, not advocacy.

Executive summary of an address by NAS [National Association of Scholars] President Dr. Stephen H. Balch Presented to: Select Committee of Pennsylvania House of Representatives

*Intellectual diversity has taken a back seat in American higher education to activism and advocacy for race, sex, and other considerations that should be extraneous to the mission of the university.

No state education system has been spared the monotonous clamoring of political interest-groups vying for power, but foresighted legislatures are attempting to rein in excesses. Members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have asked NAS President Stephen H. Balch to put the problem into perspective and to offer advice. *
Read the rest here → nas. org/polReports. cfm?Doc_Id=7

 

[Robert_Sock]

I think we need to grin and bear it, especially when it comes homosexuality. My own belief is that prayer will be much more effective than creating a conflict. I personally believe that homosexuality (having same-sex sex) is a mental disorder, but I choose not to make my beliefs public where I might needlessly cause a ruckus. We do indeed have a responsibility not to** unnecessarily** insult anybody with our religious or personal beliefs.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Everyone demands their rights but nobody wants any responsibility when exercising those rights.

 

[mikekle]

An unfortunate reminder that, to some extent, westerns are only guaranteed those rights so long as said rights are popular.

You hit the nail right on the head…great point!

 

[Joy2day]

Would it be any different, do u think, if the instructor was communicating her opinion out of class? ie. at home with a group of friends or on a website somewhere? Would the professor (& then the uni) still believe they had grounds if they had discovered her (& then the prof) doing this in her free/personal time & not in the class? Just wondering where the control ends, if at all.

 

[unstoppable_II]

Would it be any different, do u think, if the instructor was communicating her opinion out of class? ie. at home with a group of friends or on a website somewhere? Would the professor (& then the uni) still believe they had grounds if they had discovered her (& then the prof) doing this in her free/personal time & not in the class? Just wondering where the control ends, if at all.

Probably not since the mission of the university has been changed from the pursuit of truth to political advocacy.

The most serious problems of freedom of expression in our society today exist on our campuses. … The assumption seems to be that the purpose of education is to induce correct opinion rather than to search for wisdom and to liberate the mind. – Benno Schmidt, former president of Yale University (1991)

 

[CarolNoel]

Long ago and far away my great uncle was a professor there. He would not be happy about the road they are taking away from a Catholic education.