Nicholas:
It has come to my attention that I may have inadvertently criticized (publicly) a woman who is dying from breast cancer. That information, I am told, has been disseminated in one (or more) of your lectures. I would like to know who that person is so I could have an opportunity to issue an apology directly to her. If I am incorrect about any of the above, please accept my apology to you.
Mike Adams
Nicholas:
I am sorry you have chosen not to respond to my polite inquiry concerning the identity of a cancer victim I seem to have criticized publicly. Students in your night class have reported that you criticized me publicly (in your lectures) for my alleged public criticism of a dying cancer victim.
Since I have received no help from you in this matter I have researched your accusations on my own. My research indicates that I have indeed – not once, but twice – criticized someone publicly not knowing she was suffering from cancer.
The first cancer victim I criticized in public was named Jane Christensen – an outspoken anti-Semite and Holocaust denier who taught at N.C. Wesleyan University. I have a couple of questions about my criticism of her:
- Was I wrong to criticize Dr. Christensen for her anti-Semitism while she was suffering from cancer even though I did not know of her medical condition?
- Had I learned of her medical condition, should I have refrained from criticizing her in my column and on national TV (Fox News Live)?
I would appreciate an answer to my questions. Criticizing me in front of a captive audience of students is really not very professional. In fact, it is rather cowardly.
Mike Adams
Nicholas:
I hope you don’t mind me writing you again to ask two important questions concerning academic freedom. First, I want to know whether you think I was out of line by suggesting that Jane Christensen, an anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, was ill-suited to serve as the sole political science professor at a Christian university. In other words, do you think the university would have been justified in firing her? Second, I would like to know whether it would change your answer if Jane Christensen were teaching at a public university. In other words, do public universities have a right to fire professors with offensive beliefs?
Mike Adams
Nicholas:
I wanted to add something to my last inquiry on academic freedom. I learned secondhand from students in your class that you were angry at me because I criticized a woman - for engaging in unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination – while she was suffering from cancer. Two questions follow:
- Is it wrong for one professor (in his private time) to criticize another professor he does not know is suffering from cancer?
- Is it wrong for one professor (in a public university classroom) to criticize another professor he does not know is not suffering from cancer?
Mike Adams
Nicholas: Continued... |