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Dec. 12, 2005

Kansas Professor Fights Back

As a growing controversy has swirled around Paul Mirecki in the last few weeks, he has been relatively quiet, releasing statements through the University of Kansas. He has twice apologized for anti-religious comments he made in online discussions he thought were private, said he was calling off plans for a new course on intelligent design, and announced that he was giving up the chairmanship of the religious studies department at Kansas (while staying on as a tenured professor).

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On Friday, however, he took off the gloves, and released a statement to the local newspaper in which he said that he was forced out of the chairmanship, that the university was failing to back his academic freedom, that local law enforcement officials were failing to adequately investigate an attack on him, and that he had hired a lawyer to consider possible lawsuits.

Mirecki did not respond to messages over the weekend, but in his statement, which was released by The Lawrence Journal-World, his frustration was evident. “I’ve become radioactive and the university’s administrators won’t support me,” he said.

Just before Thanksgiving, Mirecki announced that he would be teaching a new course about intelligent design, with the idea of placing the idea — which is widely derided by scientists — in the context of myths. But the university announced plans to review the course after comments from a private listserv were released in which Mirecki said that the course would be “a nice slap” at “fundies.” Mirecki then withdrew the course after additional comments of his from the listserv — in which he appeared to mock Roman Catholics — were published. And a week ago, he reported being attacked while driving on a rural road by two men who were aware of his statements on intelligent design.

Mirecki’s statement on Friday contradicted earlier statements by the university. For instance, Kansas had announced last week that Mirecki “thought it appropriate” that he leave the department chairmanship, and the university released a letter from Mirecki in which he used similar language. But in his statement on Friday, Mirecki said he was “fired” because “he had the timerity to challenge the power of the religious right in Kansas and the university capitulated to demands of the conservative minority.”

He noted that the resignation letter as chair was written on the dean’s stationery, and he said that he was given “no choice’ about signing it.

“The university penalized me and denied me my constitutionally protected right to speak and express my mind,” he said. Mirecki said that he has hired a lawyer to explore the possibility of suing the university.

Kansas released a statement Saturday in which it denied that it had forced Mirecki from his chairmanship. “Paul Mirecki remains a tenured professor at the University of Kansas. The university stands unequivocally in support of his First Amendment rights and his rights to academic freedom.” The statement added that Mirecki had resigned as chairman after consulting his colleagues and that he had made the choice to cancel the course.

Mirecki also said that the university — by sharply criticizing his views — endangered him.

Robert Hemenway, chancellor at Kansas, has repeatedly defended Mirecki’s right to free speech and has strongly defended evolution, which has been attacked by many in the state. But Hemenway has also used strong language to criticize Mirecki’s comments abouty religion, calling them “repugnant and vile.”

In his statement, Mirecki said the volume of “threatening” letters and e-mail messages increased after the chancellor “attacked” him. “If the university doesn’t support me, I could be in more physical danger because the university is not standing up to the religious extremists,” he said. By criticizing Mirecki’s comments, he said, the chancellor “has given strength and validity to the religious right’s position. Now those on the right are emboldened and feel they can take this a step higher.”

He also said that investigators for the Douglas County sheriff’s office were treating him “more like a criminal than a victim,” and that they had taken his car and computer, and interviewed him several times, once for five hours straight. Mirecki also posed for a photograph with The Lawrence World-Journal so that people could see his injuries from the attack.

Douglas County officials said that they were in fact investigating the attack, and that they couldn’t discuss specifics of the case.

The university statement said that Kansas officials had offered assistance to Mirecki as soon as he reported the attack, and added: “We deplore violence against Professor Mirecki or any other member of the university community.”

Mirecki’s statement said that the controversy has had a serious impact on him, with the injuries from the attack, harassing calls, and institutions calling off his speaking engagements. “My career has been ruined over this,” he said.

— Scott Jaschik

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Comments

Step 1. Ditch the Enlightenment (thank you, pc academics).

Step 2. Return to religious dogmatism (is there another choice?).

Step 3. Identify heretics or hunt witches (the wicked one, of the West).

Step 4. Execute.

Embarrassed Kansan, at 7:03 am EST on December 12, 2005

Sorry state of Kansas

Once an oasis of tolerance, enlightenment, and respect for human dignity, Kansas has become a poster for ignorance, intolerance, and backwardness. Reminds me of one of the worst southern states in Jim Crow days. Maybe that’s the explanation: Bull Connor’s descendants and sympathizers moved to Kansas!

Glad I’m Not Kansan, at 8:20 am EST on December 12, 2005

Academic Warfare!

The battle lines are drawn and people are choosing sides. On one side is Evolution and on the other is Intelligent Design. In the middle is a group of individual who have little regard for both and choose to stay neutral.

Public ridicule for Evolution by an academic leader results in strong criticism from many academics. Public ridicule for Intelligent Design results in strong support from these same academics.

However, when the ridicule gets personal, people get in trouble and that’s a part of life. It’s alright to talk about an issue but when you publicly attack people because of their beliefs you can’t claim to be a victim when you face the consequences.

That goes for both sides!

Donnell, Civil Engineering (Structures) Graduate at Georgia Instititute of Technology, at 8:20 am EST on December 12, 2005

It’s a shame that the course won’t be offered, because no one these days needs a hard look at intelligent design more than Kansans. Nonetheless, I’m glad that the course won’t be offered by Prof. Mirecki, who strikes me as being the kind of friend serious Darwinians might prefer to have as an enemy. Removal from an academic Chairmanship is an entirely appropriate punishment for someone whose idea of appropriate dialogue, even private dialogue, involves contempt for those who hold differing positions (not to mention the irresponsibility involved in publishing those views to an e-mail list). I don’t know whether it’s worse that he’s abusing people who he’s supposed to be studying (i.e., members of a religious group), but it certainly reveals a serious lack of judgment. I cannot imagine that his course would have succeeded in its basic goal if it had been motivated by the kind of contempt for its intended audience that his e-mail correspondence shows.

His handling of the University’s response — first acquiescing too easily and then complaining too quickly — further demonstrates his unsuitability for a position of administrative responsibility. (We don’t hear loud public voices supporting him from his own faculty, making me think that they share this view of him.) Let Prof. Mirecki take consolation from his own, Darwinian views on the matter: as a Chair, he was unfit, and he has been culled.

The charges of police negligence are more troubling. I begin to understand the urge to slug this guy, but the same people who rightly nudged him out of his administrative office should be working doubly hard to ensure that those who took the abuse to the next level are caught and prosecuted. So far, I don’t see anything in his claims that looks like police abuse — of course the PD takes the vehicle, as it’s part of the crime scene, and the computer, for email records b/c it’s a hate crime, and of course they interview the victim extensively. It could indeed be true that the PD has little sympathy for him; unfortunately, the hyperbolic nature of the Prof’s other communications damages his credibility here, too. I hope the Lawrence PD is doing everything it can to catch those two men, whatever Prof. Mirecki thinks and however much or little they like him or his views. If not, they should be sanctioned as well.

Finally, I hope someone else will give that Intelligent Design course soon. Ideally, that individual will be able to present the material in ways that are clearly respectful of the views of others without ceding to them any claims of truth that the evidence does not support. Maybe then the course will actually do some good.

CJ, at 8:31 am EST on December 12, 2005

God bless Kansas

May God bless and keep Kansas...far away from me.

David, at 8:45 am EST on December 12, 2005

“Once an oasis of tolerance, enlightenment, and respect for human dignity, Kansas has become a poster for ignorance, intolerance, and backwardness.”

I know. When a religious studies chairman refers to fundamentalist Christians as ‘fundies’ and creates a course to ’slap them in the face’, and when that same chairman mocks Catholics (when he himself is a religious studies professor), he has lost all ‘tolerance, enlightenment, and respect for human dignity.” He has himself become a poster for ignorance, intolerance, and backwardness.”

Oh, wait. That’s probably not what you meant.

What did you mean? Is mocking religion a sign of ‘tolerance, enlightenment, and respect for human dignity?” Interesting viewpoint.

Steve

Steve, at 9:17 am EST on December 12, 2005

Hello, Larry (King)

Kansas, Kansas, Kansas .. all these critics. Have they been to Kansas? Or just read the left-wing screed, “What’s Wrong With Kansas?”

Consider this well-known Kansas native —

http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/

IMHO, Ike would have laughed at the “Wrong With Kansas” book as 99% one-sided. As a former university president and politician (is there a difference?), the military engineering graduate would have been appalled by (1) the ID crowd with no peer-review and (2) the professor’s intemperate words. He would have re-affirmed the Midwest credo noted by Garrison Keillor — work hard, don’t hog all the credit, and don’t whine.

As to the conduct of the police —

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005...or_blasts_ku_sheriffs_investigation/

Having worked with law enforcement on real (e.g., triple-murders) and faked (e.g., Susan Smith, “Runaway Bride") incidents — I’m reasonably sure they offered the professor the opportunity to take a lie detector test to confirm his story.

And, given the high-profile nature of the incident, I’m sure they are double-checking everything.

Further — I’m 99%-sure every national TV/radio talk show in America (including Fox, which as a talk-oriented network has given socialist Bernie Sanders 5x more airtime than CNN) has invited the professor to explain what happened on their shows.

Well, I’m looking forward to his TV appearances. That, as opposed to his attorney reading his PR statement and saying what has been regurgitated by the MSM and police, “he told me to tell you ..”

R.A. Shaw, at 9:17 am EST on December 12, 2005

Appalling

I find it disgusting that there are those individuals who are so intimidated that they must resort to childishness in using monikers to hide their identity during an intellectual discourse. “CJ” and “Steve” do a disservice to themselves and their arguments by being so withdrawn. I generally overlook such articles, as they could be written by the same faceless individual. I do not understand why any website or newspaper would ever consider publishing their comments when no one knows whom they are.

Arthur Ide, PhD, at 6:11 am EST on December 13, 2005

The world’s not perfect, sir

” .. I do not understand why any website or newspaper would ever consider publishing their comments when no one knows whom they are.”

Yes, well, in a perfect world (Starfleet Academy 2424 AD), no one would have work, MDs wouldn’t need Lexus SUVs ..

http://www.google.com/search?as_q...arch=&as_rights=&safe=images

and no one would have to worry about bosses. Unfortunately, last time I looked, the world’s not yet perfect. Pity.

IHE — thanks for the advertiser-supported bandwidth. A start-up can be like a near-death sentence — but life goes on. -73-

R.A. Shaw, at 6:57 am EST on December 13, 2005

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