Freedom of Speech On Campus

[Annie]

We're all familiar with Ward Churchill and the early noise about 'protecting intellectual discourse.' Now here was a professor, that was NOT in the classroom, but stopped by an 'information booth' and had a discussion. The students after the argument, found out that he was a non-tenured professor, see what happens:

http://www.chicagojewishnews.com/cover.jsp

GAG ORDER: Is DePaul University silencing a professor for his pro-Israel views?
By Pauline Dubkin Yearwood

A part-time adjunct professor at DePaul University has been suspended over an argument he had last September with Muslim and Palestinian students concerning the Middle East situation and Israel's role in it.
The case has raised troubling questions both on campus-where many students and professors were not aware of it until several months after the fact-and off.

Did 58-year-old Professor Thomas Klocek "verbally attack" the students for their "religious beliefs and ethnicity," "demean their ideas," "dishonor their perspective" and "press erroneous assertions," as the school has charged? Or is it a case of "political correctness run amuck" at the nation's largest Catholic university, as another professor calls it?

Those questions may eventually be answered in court. Klocek (pronounced Klo-check), who has taught at the Chicago university for 15 years, has retained a lawyer, who says he intends to file a lawsuit against the school.

Klocek himself has also gone public about the case: On March 1, he participated in a press conference in which he stood in front of the school's Lincoln Park campus with his mouth taped shut and his arms and hands bound while his attorney read a list of demands.

As of now, he remains without a job and is in danger of losing his health insurance coverage as well.

At issue are events that took place during 15 to 20 minutes last Sept. 15, when Klocek attended a Student Activities Fair on DePaul's Loop campus.

Klocek has taught for the last 15 years at DePaul's School for New Learning, a special school for adult college students on the university's downtown Chicago campus. His courses have ranged from Critical Thinking to College Writing to Languages and Cultures of the World. By all accounts, he was a popular teacher and his classes were always full.

A Roman Catholic, Klocek has a keen interest in Middle East politics and problems, primarily through contact he has had with Catholic and other Christian groups in the region. He told Chicago Jewish News during several phone conversations that he has been particularly concerned with the fact that some Christians feel they are being pushed out of lands they consider to be theirs because of the tension and fighting between Israelis and Palestinians. Christians from these groups have told him that "many of them simply can't live with it, and a lot of them have left," he said.

He is concerned, he said, that "by the year 2020 or so, there may be no effective Christian presence in the Middle East whatsoever." He also believes that Christians "were in the Middle East eight centuries before" Muslims and that "they have the right to have some say, but often don't." Klocek also said he is sympathetic to Israel.

What happened, then, on the afternoon of Sept. 15 has been pieced together from accounts by Klocek, his attorney, John W. Mauck of the law firm Mauck & Baker, accounts from the school and from the DePaulia, the student newspaper, as well as from an e-mail account by Salma Nassar, president of the DePaul group Students for Justice in Palestine and one of the students who was involved in the incident. (Nassar did not respond to requests for an interview from Chicago Jewish News).

Here's what all the parties agree on: The trouble began when Klocek stopped at a booth run by Students for Justice in Palestine and one next to it from UMMA (United Muslims Moving Ahead.) He picked up some literature from the SJP table and read a sheet depicting the death of Rachel Corrie, the American activist who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer when she tried to stop a house demolition in the West Bank town of Rafah.

The handout described Corrie as being "murdered by Israeli bulldozer" and went on to state that she "was deliberately ran (sic) over, twice, after a two-hour confrontation between the non-violent international activists and the Israeli armed forces."

Klocek said he turned to the student staffing the SJP booth and said, "You know, there's more than one perspective on the Middle East conflict. You're only presenting one side here."

Students at the booth "began to engage me in conversation," he said. Klocek expressed his belief that "strictly speaking, right now there is no such place as Palestine on the map. The Palestinian people were simply Arabs who lived in the West Bank and Gaza."

One of the women at the table told him that she was a Palestinian, then, according to Klocek, "she got up from the table and said, you know, the Palestinians are being treated by Israelis the same way Hitler treated the Jews."

"I took umbrage," Klocek said. "I told her that was an absolutely scurrilous statement, an absolute lie. I said that I believe the Israeli armed forces have exercised very careful restraint in their responses to what has been almost daily suicide bombings. There is a big difference between (Israelis) targeting a terrorist and someone strapped with bombs going in to a cafe or a seder and blowing up people."

Then, Klocek said, "the UMMA people began to come over. It was eight against one. A very spirited conversation" ensued.

Klocek said that when he felt the discussion was generating more heat than light on both sides, he decided that neither side was going to convince the other and started to leave. When a student asked if he had any connection with the university, he told her who he was and what courses he taught.

As he walked away, Klocek said, "students began coming after me, and I thumbed my chin at them. It's an Italian New Jersey expression meaning, 'I'm finished,' 'I'm out of here.'"

Some of the students involved had a different interpretation of the encounter. (Apparently students from the two organizations were the only ones present, and the account of events that differ from Klocek's account comes from them.)

Nassar, the SJP president, described the event in an Oct. 4 e-mail she sent to a number of campus organizations as "a racist encounter." She wrote that when students "responded to (Klocek) in a polite and professional manner ... he continued to make derogatory and racist comments," including making comments about how all terror attacks have been committed by Muslims. (Klocek said that he was quoting Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg, who in turn was quoting Abdel Rahman Al-Rashed, the manager of an Arab news channel, who stated that "It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.")

Nassar went on to state that "we tried engaging Professor Klocek in conversation but he kept interrupting us and did not allow us to answer any of his questions." In addition, she wrote, "he continuously referred to Palestinians as 'those people' and went on to say that Palestinians 'do not exist.'"

Here is some commentary on the case:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17246

When it comes to the basic protections of due process and academic freedom, it often appears that students and professors live in two worlds – one world for those who follow the current academic political orthodoxy and another for those who dissent. Take for example, two untenured professors at major universities, Joseph Massad of Columbia and Thomas Klocek of Depaul.


Many FrontPage readers are undoubtedly familiar with Professor Massad. Extensively discussed in the documentary “Columbia Unbecoming” and in national media reports, Professor Massad has been quoted as comparing Israelis to Nazis and Prime Minister Sharon’s cultural views to those of Joseph Goebbels. He has reportedly refused to allow students to dispute his allegations of Israeli atrocities in class. At a lecture at Oxford University, Massad once declared: “The Jews are not a nation. The Jewish state is a racist state that does not have the right to exist.” Perhaps the most notorious allegation against Massad involves a claim that (at an off-campus event) he refused to answer a question from an Israeli student unless that student told Massad how many Palestinians he had killed.



Let me introduce you to the second professor in this tale, Thomas Klocek. Professor Klocek’s problems began during a recent Student Activities Fair at Depaul. He walked by Students for Justice in Palestine’s table and took issue with some of the controversial and provocative statements in their literature. A heated argument ensued, and there is no question that both sides argued aggressively. The SJP students compared Israeli treatment of Palestinians to Hitler’s treatment of Jews, and Professor Klocek, among other things, disputed Palestinian claims to a distinct national identity. He also referred to an article by Abdel Rahman Al-Rashed, the general manager of the Al-Aribiya news channel that began: “It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims.” The encounter ended when professor Klocek “thumbed his chin” at the students – a gesture that he believes means “I’m outta here,” and the students interpreted as being obscene.



If you look closely at the two stories, you will note some substantial differences. One of the professors has been accused of actual unethical conduct in a classroom setting (refusing to permit a student to dissent from his teaching). This professor has also repeated his “offensive” comments in class, in public lectures, and in writing. The other professor has never been accused of classroom misconduct, and his “offensive” comments were made in the context of a one-time encounter in a setting where the students involved were inviting discussion by handing out literature. Yet it is the second professor who has been punished, not the first.



In the immediate aftermath of his encounter with the students, Professor Klocek was publicly accused of racism (by students who claimed they were “hurt” or “crushed” by his comments), ordered not to talk to the DePaul university newspaper (when the accusing students were encouraged to tell their side of the story), and then suspended without a hearing. And what of Professor Massad? He is being investigated, certainly, but by a committee that is stacked with friends and colleagues – in closed meetings with no recording of the proceedings. In other words, not only is Professor Massad receiving due process, his “process” is coming in front of a tribunal that is facially stacked in his favor and insulated from effective public oversight.



It is just this kind of disparate treatment that makes so many people deeply cynical about the culture of modern higher education. This week, 199 Colorado University professors signed a statement protesting any investigation into Ward Churchill’s work, including investigations into allegations of academic fraud and resume fraud. Where were those defenders of free speech when the university censored the College Republicans’ “affirmative action bake sale” last year? Some of them, no doubt, were eager to see the university take action against so-called “hate speech.” When Hamilton College wrapped itself in the cloak of academic freedom after it hired a convicted terrorist and invited Ward Churchill to address its students, did anyone notice that this liberty-loving institution also had a speech code?



It is time to put a stop to the obsession with victimization and offense. Speech codes and ideological uniformity lead inevitably to naked abuses of power and double standards. A campus culture that for twenty-five years (at least) has used its intellectual energy to suppress dissent now finds itself under unprecedented national scrutiny, and the conduct that once spawned chuckles in the faculty lounge now leads to headlines and appearances on Fox News. Simply put, free speech needs room to breathe. So free Thomas Klocek from his suspension, and restrict any “investigation” of Massad to only those allegations involving actual violations of student academic freedom. Let us restore truly free debate to our institutions of higher education – and may the best ideas win.



David French is the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.

 

[Annie]

Here is a bit more commentary, funny isn't it, that the MSM has totally ignored this? Could it be that he isn't arguing for the right group?

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=17335

Muzzled by Muslims
By Joel Mowbray
FrontPageMagazine.com | March 11, 2005

In academia today, “academic freedom” protects those who compare the 9/11 victims to Nazi higher ups, but it does not cover a professor with the temerity to challenge the beliefs of Muslim students in a single encounter which constituted, in the words of his boss, an “assault on their dignity.”

Thomas Klocek, a part-time adjunct professor at DePaul University, knows this first-hand; he was unlucky enough to fall on the wrong side of the political correctness fence.

With no current income and facing the possibility of losing the health insurance he desperately needs for a serious kidney condition, he has decided to go public with his fight. Klocek considers his case a matter of academic freedom; the school insists it’s a health issue. The Muslim students who had the 20-30 minute run-in with him that precipitated his suspension charge racism.

Although every party involved frames the overall matter differently, multiple conversations with each side reveal that the facts are what are least in dispute.

Here’s what we do know. After 14 years of continuous employment at the Chicago-based college, Klocek was suspended with pay for the rest of the fall quarter last September, and then stayed suspended—this time without pay—through the winter quarter.

Despite having, by all accounts, an unblemished record during that span, DePaul summarily dismissed him from his duties after the school learned that he had “insulted” and “demeaned” several Muslim students at a campus fair for extracurricular groups.

After a handful of these students approached the dean just over a week after the incident and demanded that Klocek be canned, the school complied. Acting without a hearing—as is required by the rules, except in an “emergency”—Dean Susanne Dumbleton relieved Klocek of his teaching responsibilities for the quarter.

DePaul spokesperson Denise Mattson characterized this parting of the ways as a “mutual decision,” which makes it curious that Klocek sat out the winter quarter as well, this time without pay. Further undermining the “mutual” contention is that when asked if the dean considered suspending him an “emergency,” thus obviating the requirement for a hearing, Mattson replied, “Yes.”

So what had Klocek done that made his dismissal so urgent that it was considered an “emergency”? While one might expect a he said, she said scenario, both of the main parties involved largely agree on what transpired.

On September 15, 2004, Klocek was strolling through the student activities fair at DePaul’s downtown campus when he noticed a flyer showing Israeli tanks destroying Palestinian homes. “It was very one-sided,” he explained, “and I wanted them to think about the bigger reality.”

He put on his professor hat and tried to do what teachers do: he tried to get them to think. And that’s what has lead to his downfall.

Approaching the Students for Justice in Palestine booth, Klocek engaged the students. And then he enraged them. Depending on who’s telling the story, Klocek either earlier or later in the conversation said something to the effect of that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all the terrorists currently operating in the world today are Muslims.

That’s not an entirely true statement—look at the Irish Republican Army for just one example—but then again, he was quoting a fairly prominent Muslim, the head of the al-Arabiya satellite television network. And while you can quibble with the full accuracy of the claim, you can’t deny its essence.

Same goes for what the Muslim students consider his other truly offensive remark, that there is no Palestinian ethnicity and that the term really only became prominent in media coverage in the last 20 to 25 years. There has been in various forms a region—though not a country, and certainly not an ethnically homogenous state—known as “Palestine” going back to the Ottoman period, but “Palestinian” is more of a regional identification than an ethnic one. And while older than two decades, its usage only became common in the 20th century.

Eight days later, some of the students involved met with the dean and cried racism. They asked for his head. They got it.

The school adamantly maintains that it’s about the behavior—even Klocek admits he raised his voice, though not to the point of yelling—and claims that it indicates his health problems are hindering his performance, particularly his judgment. When asked to name any other questionable behavior by Klocek, though, Mattson hid behind medical privacy—which has nothing to do with disclosing his classroom actions that also supposedly contributed to the decision to suspend him.

The logic is certainly interesting. He stated beliefs clearly outside the acceptable mainstream in academia, therefore he must be nuts. Thus, they’re not punishing him for the content of his remarks, but the fact that he was crazy enough to utter them.

It also appears that the school’s stated rationale is not based on an accurate accounting of what actually happened.

DePaul’s spokesperson had said that Klocek cursed at the students. Salma Nassar, SJP president and the student who did most of the talking during the incident, says he didn’t. Mattson also said that Klocek had flipped the students the bird. Nassar, again, says otherwise. She says that Klocek bit his thumb—which could be taken as an insult by Arabs, but which has its roots in Shakepeare (“I bite my thumb at thee”). The professor, for his part, adds that he merely flicked his thumb from under his chin, an old, non-profane Italian gesture expressing frustration.

And on what was stressed as the core of the contention that Klocek was unfit to teach—that the students felt scared and intimidated—the school seems to have gotten that wrong, too. When pressed about whether or not she or the others felt “scared” or “threatened,” Nassar said no. She explained that they were “a little bit intimidated.” But what student has ever gone an entire college career without once feeling “a little bit intimidated” by a professor?

Which brings us back to the content of Klocek’s comments. The students, in both remarks in the school newspaper and in a mass e-mail, were clearly most concerned by what they perceived as the professor’s ignorance and racism. Dean Dumbleton, in a letter to the school newspaper seemed mostly motivated by such complaints, writing that Klocek had “demean[ed] the ideas” and “freedom” of the Muslim students and “dishonored” their “perspective” by “press[ing] erroneous assertions.”

Showing that the charge of racism is the ultimate kryptonite on college campuses, the dean delved into flagrant hand-wringing: “I sincerely regret the assault on their dignity, their beliefs, their individual selves, and I continue to be saddened by the fact that they have experienced such pain at the hands of someone taught at my school, which has defined commitment to social justice as one of its core values.”

Blame the Muslim civil rights groups, particularly the Council on American-Islamic Relations, for conflating in the public mind legitimate political discourse with bigotry. Or blame academia for a culture so twisted that Colorado University’s president would rather resign than fire Ward Churchill, the infamous professor who called 9/11 victims “little Eichmanns.”

Dean Dumbleton is probably guilty on both counts. And if her idea of academic freedom is to summarily suspend a 14-year veteran for politically incorrect remarks, then maybe she should follow the lead of CU’s president.

 

[William Joyce]

K, you are deeply, deeply misinformed if you think those with pro-Israel views are somehow "censored." People with pro-Israel views run our media, our government, our military. They run most of our academia, with the exceptions you describe. It's people with pro-AMERICAN views who get censored. The National Alliance can't even put up a billboard without fighting a legal battle. Say you want America to come first, and that Israel should not be our primary concern, and they will scream "anti-Semite!"

The idea that Jews suffer from "censorship" is one of the more absurd ones perpetrated by liberals and neocons. Jews control the damn media: everything is about the Holocaust, Israel, how great Jews are, Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, the terrible Nazis, the terrible British, blah blah blah. It never ends!

Yes, there are pockets of Arabism in the universities, and there are some lefties who are anti-Israel. But they are anti-Israel for sincere reasons: they don't like its racism. I myself don't have a problem with racism, obviously, though I hate it when Jews hoard it for themselves and deny it to the rest. But it was JEWS who created the severe leftism of the American university, back when it served their purpose. Now they're crying because it's biting them in the ass, and I AM LAUGHING!

 

[Annie]

K, you are deeply, deeply misinformed if you think those with pro-Israel views are somehow "censored." People with pro-Israel views run our media, our government, our military. They run most of our academia, with the exceptions you describe. It's people with pro-AMERICAN views who get censored. The National Alliance can't even put up a billboard without fighting a legal battle. Say you want America to come first, and that Israel should not be our primary concern, and they will scream "anti-Semite!"

The idea that Jews suffer from "censorship" is one of the more absurd ones perpetrated by liberals and neocons. Jews control the damn media: everything is about the Holocaust, Israel, how great Jews are, Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, the terrible Nazis, the terrible British, blah blah blah. It never ends!

Yes, there are pockets of Arabism in the universities, and there are some lefties who are anti-Israel. But they are anti-Israel for sincere reasons: they don't like its racism. I myself don't have a problem with racism, obviously, though I hate it when Jews hoard it for themselves and deny it to the rest. But it was JEWS who created the severe leftism of the American university, back when it served their purpose. Now they're crying because it's biting them in the ass, and I AM LAUGHING!

sorry WJ, rubber, glue. You should check your own sources.

 

[dilloduck]

Where in the hell is the JADL on this one ??

 

[Annie]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050514/ap_on_re_us/depaul_dispute_1

CHICAGO - A longtime DePaul University instructor who argued with pro-Palestinian students at a campus activities fair last fall no longer works for the school. That much is not in dispute.

But why Thomas Klocek lost his job while other professors under fire for their statements kept theirs has created a buzz among conservative-leaning Internet blogs about free speech rights at campuses across the country.

John Ruberry, who writes the Marathon Pundit blog, started following the case after Klocek staged a news conference and appeared with his mouth taped shut.

"There seems to be kind of a double standard as far as free speech," Ruberry said, noting the case of University of Colorado's Ward Churchill, who came under fire for comparing some Sept. 11 victims to Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi architect of the Holocaust.

Ruberry contends Churchill and left-leaning professors elsewhere have kept their jobs while the conservative Klocek was fired. Other blogs picked up on Klocek's story, including one that referred to a "jihad-friendly atmosphere" at DePaul.

DePaul officials maintain that it was Klocek's "belligerent and menacing" behavior toward the pro-Palestinian students — not his views — that got him in trouble.

Klocek, who does not have tenure, could still have his job if he agreed to apologize to the students for behavior that included throwing papers and shouting, said DePaul spokeswoman Denise Mattson.

"We emphatically reject that this is at all a matter of academic freedom," Mattson said. "For DePaul, it was about his conduct, not his content."

Klocek attended a campus activity fair on Sept. 15 where Students for Justice in Palestine and United Muslims Moving Ahead were among about two dozen student groups with tables in the cafeteria of DePaul's downtown Chicago campus.

Klocek, a part-time instructor who taught critical thinking, writing and research for 14 years, says he picked up a controversial flier and argued with students, saying among other things that there is no Palestine and Palestinians do not truly exist.

After about a half-hour, other groups called faculty advisers to intervene, and Klocek left — flipping his thumb under his chin.

The pro-Palestinian students, aided by a Chicago Islamic advocacy group, complained to the university, and Klocek ended up giving up his teaching assignment for that quarter with pay. He has not worked at the university since.

"This case fits within a disturbing pattern we see nationally ... of punishing and disciplining professors who offend other individuals," said David French, president of the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a group that takes on campus free speech cases.

Klocek insists he is being punished for his opinions and is considering suing DePaul.

"This had nothing to do with religion. It had nothing to do with ethnicity. My side is that it has everything to do with free speech," Klocek said.

Klocek maintains that he was let go without a hearing and that the university's comments about his behavior have made it difficult to get other teaching work. He said does not regret his actions.

"A university is not bricks and mortar. It is great because of the intellectual reputation that they have," Klocek said. "You cannot have a university that acts like a preschool."

 

[insein]

K, you are deeply, deeply misinformed if you think those with pro-Israel views are somehow "censored." People with pro-Israel views run our media, our government, our military. They run most of our academia, with the exceptions you describe. It's people with pro-AMERICAN views who get censored. The National Alliance can't even put up a billboard without fighting a legal battle. Say you want America to come first, and that Israel should not be our primary concern, and they will scream "anti-Semite!"

The idea that Jews suffer from "censorship" is one of the more absurd ones perpetrated by liberals and neocons. Jews control the damn media: everything is about the Holocaust, Israel, how great Jews are, Anne Frank, Eli Wiesel, the terrible Nazis, the terrible British, blah blah blah. It never ends!

Yes, there are pockets of Arabism in the universities, and there are some lefties who are anti-Israel. But they are anti-Israel for sincere reasons: they don't like its racism. I myself don't have a problem with racism, obviously, though I hate it when Jews hoard it for themselves and deny it to the rest. But it was JEWS who created the severe leftism of the American university, back when it served their purpose. Now they're crying because it's biting them in the ass, and I AM LAUGHING!

WJ i think you focus your efforts on the wrong target. Islam is a greater problem then the jews. Many jews in this country are lawyers, judges, media members etc, but the Israelis are allies. They dont think the same as the jews here.

Islam is the enemy and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

 

[Adam's Apple]

I'll just bet those Palestinian students tried to discuss the matter with Prof. Klocek "in a polite and professional manner."

 

[Annie]

Hope he makes a bundle:
http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_marathonpundit_archive.html#111876919323587832

This suit was just filed this afternoon in Chicago and is a Marathon Pundit exclusive story. Professor Thomas Klocek, who was suspended for defending Israel against the charges of some Palestinian students, has filed a slander lawsuit against DePaul University. More details to follow.

Here is the press release announcing Klocek's lawsuit against DePaul

FREE SPEECH BATTLE AT DePAUL LEADS TO SLANDER LAW SUIT:
UNIVERSITY’S PRESIDENT NAMED AS DEFENDANT

Case part of national trend of campus battles regarding censorship and
“politically incorrect” speech


Chicago…What started out as a disagreement regarding the Middle East at a Student Activities Fair has led to a free speech battle that generated public interest from Israel to London, and now a slander law suit. Today a defamation suit was filed in Illinois’ Cook County Chancery charging that DePaul University and its leadership defamed Professor Thomas Klocek when DePaul publicly characterized arguments he presented to members of Palestinian and Muslim student groups as racist and bigoted. The suit seeks damages against DePaul for maligning Klocek’s integrity and professional competence. The defendants named include: DePaul University; Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, President of DePaul; and Susan Dumbleton, Dean of DePaul’s School for New Learning. The case was assigned to Judge David Donnersberger.

DePaul Sought to Silence Professor

On September 15, 2004 a Student Activities Fair was held at the DePaul Loop Campus. Among the student groups at the fair was the Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). When Professor Klocek came to the SJP table, he took a handout that showed an Israeli bulldozer destroying a Palestinian house. A discussion began and Professor Klocek sought to inform the students that a third paradigm, neither Muslim nor Jewish, but Christian, should be considered. Later, one of the students likened the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians to Hitler’s treatment of the Jewish people. Professor Klocek took strong offense at that allegation and challenged it. He quoted an Arab source that concluded that although most Muslims are not terrorists, most of today’s terrorists are Muslims. After the incident, the SJP and United Muslims Moving Ahead complained to Klocek’s Dean, Dr. Susanne Dumbleton, Dean, School for New Learning...