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:
This is my last email to you on the subject of academic freedom. I was informed by a student in one of your night classes that you stated (in class) that someone with “Mike Adams’ views” should not be allowed to teach at a university. You have given no indication that you would call for the termination of a professor who espoused the view that the Holocaust was a fraud perpetrated by the Jews. The professor also believed – before she died of cancer – that Bush and the Jews conspired to stage 911 as an excuse to start a war with the Muslims.
Could you please tell me what views I hold that are so offensive that I should be fired and that would motivated you to disparage me in front of a captive audience of students? For the record, I think the Holocaust and 911 were both real historical events.
Mike Adams
Nicholas:
I’m disappointed to hear no response from you. This is the fourth time I’ve heard a report of an English professor using valuable time in class to criticize me for the things I say outside of class in my widely published column. I have confronted one of the other professors with an offer to debate but she was not willing. I will extend to you now an invitation to debate the issue of academic freedom any time you would like. I think it is important for you to learn to defend your views rather than simply espousing them in front of a captive audience of students who are afraid to voice their disagreements in class because of the power you hold over them.
But, for the record Nicholas, please understand that there are students in your classes who object to your decision to voice your political views in class when you are supposed to be teaching English.
I do not for one moment question your right to interject your political views into your lectures. I’m just annoyed that so many of you in the Department of English do it so often and, of course, that the same professors who do it are unwilling to accept my invitations to debate in public.
Nicholas, in recent years, I’ve noticed that students’ writing skills have been declining. In addition to not knowing the difference between “to,” “two,” and “too,” students seem unsure when to say “their” and when to say “they’re.” Perhaps even more annoying is their (not they’re) tendency to state what they “feel” rather than what they think in essay responses. I cannot help but think (not feel) that you would be doing the university a service if you would devote less time to teaching your political views in class and more time to teaching English.
I hope my views do not offend you. And I hope they will not compel you to call for my dismissal.
Mike Adams
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