I normally hate to post on things like this, as some topics should be ignored completely lest we accidentally infer some semblances of sanity to otherwise inane claims. Yet this story has an upside.
The following from New Hampshire WMUR webpage:
A small group of students has started a petition to remove a University of New Hampshire professor who believes that Bush administration officials planned the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks or knew about them and allowed them to happen. “Basically, we watch professors to just ensure they’re doing their job … they’re not biased in the classroom and are not teaching what they are not supposed to teach,” said Bill Hunt, chairman of the newly formed and unrecognized organization Students for Academic Integrity.
Woodward, a tenured professor, belongs to Scholars for 9/11 Truth, whose members question the official story about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and contend that the U.S. government either had knowledge of the attacks or had a role in them. Gov. John Lynch called Woodward’s beliefs “completely crazy and offensive” and asked the trustees to investigate.
Woodward has said he does not push his views on his students but has mentioned it in his classroom in the spirit of full disclosure. Bruce Mallory, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, said he has investigated the controversy surrounding Woodward and has not heard of the Students for Academic Integrity petition. He added that the university still stands by its position that Woodward acted within the bounds of academic freedom.
I guess, if I was attending UNH I would have to wonder as to the mental stability of the Psychology professor; how dose he work 9/11 into his Psychology class?
In any event, it’s the students who are standing up to this that get my hat-tip. While the student body doesn’t have the right to elect there professors, they should have the right to express concerns over the validity of what they are being taught. The goal of a university needs to be to first educate and then build a pattern of rational though. By dismissing this wacko’s teaching it at least shows they are rational in thought.
Should the wacko be kicked out? No so easy, that. I most certainly think he is crazy, misinformed, and has no right pedaling conspiracy theory’s off as fact. However the right to constructively express an openion is a fundamental right. If he otherwise fulfills his role as professor, then so be it.
I am sure our buddies over at the ACLU would say that teaching is covered under the 1st Amendment right of free speech, which is a grand fallacy. Teaching is about facts, process, and discovery; never about rumor, gossip, and conspiracy theories. Teachers who engage in such should be removed.
A similar view was posted on OTB.
