Butler University Sues Son of Evolution Weekend Founder

This is interesting certainly but what is it substantially on topic for PT? While Zimmeran is the founder of Evolution Weekly I don't quite see how that is connected to the dispute with the school. This seems more like something that is incidentally happening with individuals connected to something that PT would care about. (SLAPP suits are a serious problem and I could go on for a while ranting about how the legislation in place often isn't enough but the fact that this is connected to serious other problems doesn't make it ontopic for PT)

Yes, thank you. I had forgotten to include "Slightly Off Topic" in the categories list and have added it now.

Incidentally, you can sign a petition in favor of Jess Zimmerman here.

Michael Zimmerman also founded the clergy letter project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy_Letter_Project

Ok. Having now looked at the blog posts in question I can't see anything remotely libelous. Frankly, I have to wonder about the competency of the university's lawyers that they actually tried to do this.

Also Matt, sorry if my initial comment came across as obnoxious. Rereading it I can definitely see how it might be.

Mike Zimmerman was an Assistant prof at Oberlin and my editor when I first started writing about creationism/evolution stuff in the 1980s. All my contacts with him have been professional and I've found him to be an honorable man.

From what I've read, this brouhaha at Butler is an example of administrative B.S. Having been through a dab of that myself back in my academic days, I'm not surprised. Few have the requisite administrator skill set, which is to be able to bob and weave whilst simultaneously ducking for cover. New Provosts, which is what appears to be the case at Butler, are particularly problematic.

This is really an outrage. There's not a whole lot more to be said.

My best guess: the Provost or the President went to the lawyers and said "find a way to shut down that blog". The lawyers read the blog, realized that they could not bring disciplinary action against the student (or so I am guessing, I don't have time to read the student handbook and Butler is not a public University).

This kind of criticism directed against administrators is not unusual. Most of the time it comes from faculty. I've never heard of a University going after a student.

The e-mails are definitely not harassment or threatening, not even close.

There are several national organizations the student might be able to get help from-I hope he does. I hope the AAUP censures Butler as well. The AAUP won't normally get involved in student issues-for understandable reasons. But this one goes way beyond the pale.

It's all part of the drive to corporatize the University.

... sorry if my initial comment came across as obnoxious.

...I could go on for a while ranting about how the legislation in place often isn’t enough...

Chip Poirot said: This is really an outrage. There's not a whole lot more to be said. My best guess: the Provost or the President went to the lawyers and said "find a way to shut down that blog". The lawyers read the blog, realized that they could not bring disciplinary action against the student (or so I am guessing, I don't have time to read the student handbook and Butler is not a public University). This kind of criticism directed against administrators is not unusual. Most of the time it comes from faculty. I've never heard of a University going after a student. The e-mails are definitely not harassment or threatening, not even close. There are several national organizations the student might be able to get help from-I hope he does. I hope the AAUP censures Butler as well. The AAUP won't normally get involved in student issues-for understandable reasons. But this one goes way beyond the pale. It's all part of the drive to corporatize the University.

Typo, so am reposting this -

Chip, I’d go even further. This is suppression of free speech IMHO. I wonder whether Butler University’s administration has ever heard of John Peter Zenger.

P. S. Matt, though I realize that this rather off-topic, it is still worth noting regardless.

RBH said: Mike Zimmerman was an Assistant prof at Oberlin and my editor when I first started writing about creationism/evolution stuff in the 1980s. All my contacts with him have been professional and I've found him to be an honorable man. From what I've read, this brouhaha at Butler is an example of administrative B.S. Having been through a dab of that myself back in my academic days, I'm not surprised. Few have the requisite administrator skill set, which is to be able to bob and weave whilst simultaneously ducking for cover. New Provosts, which is what appears to be the case at Butler, are particularly problematic.

John Kwok said: Typo, so am reposting this - Chip, I’d go even further. This is suppression of free speech IMHO. I wonder whether Butler University’s administration has ever heard of John Peter Zenger. P. S. Matt, though I realize that this rather off-topic, it is still worth noting regardless.

"Academic freedom does not provide protection for defamation and harassment," Fong wrote. "Indeed, the free exchange of ideas demands that faculty, students and staff be protected from defamation and harassments because these are the means by which bullies intimidate others into silence."

Matt Young said: Not surprised - the rich always manage to protect themselves from the poor. If you can elaborate briefly, please feel free, and rant to the extent appropriate.

Thanks to Mr. Zelinsky for that clear explanation (which I found a little tame for a rant). Why am I not surprised that you need resources just to get inside the courtroom?

Chip poirot said:

John Kwok said: Typo, so am reposting this - Chip, I’d go even further. This is suppression of free speech IMHO. I wonder whether Butler University’s administration has ever heard of John Peter Zenger. P. S. Matt, though I realize that this rather off-topic, it is still worth noting regardless.

Butler is not a public University and therefore (unfortunately IMO) its students and faculty are not entitled to any First Amendment (or other Constitutional protection) wrt their status as students and faculty. However, they are entitled to whatever contractual and policy protections they have for due process and academic freedom. On the other hand, the use of SLAPPs to punish or chill speech that corporations (or others) find problematic is a broader threat to free speech in society. That a University would stoop to such tactics is alarming.

John Kwok said: Chip, Butler University is an American university and therefore it has to adhere to First Amendment rules. The same is true for Columbia University, since it is hosting anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geerd Wilders at a venue being organized by the campus chapter of the College Republicans at Columbia's Morningside Heights (main) campus tonight:

John Kwok -

For better or for worse, Chip is right here. To take an extreme example, Liberty University requires that its professors teach within their sectarian dogma, and is entitled to do so.

Unlike Chip, I don't have a problem with this, as long as public and respectable private institutions aren't compromised. In fact, I strongly support the right of people who choose so to have their own sectarian schools and colleges, although I do not think that the degrees granted should be recognized as equivalent to mainstream degrees in most circumstances, unless they really are.

However, an institution like Columbia, although private, does adhere to very high standards of academic freedom.

There are two reasons why they might do so -

1) Voluntarily, one would hope.

2) Because faculty organizations like the AAUP fought hard to assure protection for their members with regard to academic freedom. LU faculty presumably don't have organizational protection.

Butler probably does have faculty with some sort of organizational protections.

As for the private activities of students, they should have a very low level of control over that. It seems to me (and everyone else here, apparently) that they are desperately over-reaching (albeit possibly with success) with regard to the son.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if all of this is related (duh), and if there is some kind of academic politics driving it all.

Whether there is a creationism element is unclear. We can state with confidence that if an ID/creationism follower (overt or not) were to obtain a high position at a small private university, then it would be highly plausible that they might behave with excess hostility toward a faculty member associated with promoting public understanding and acceptance of the theory of evolution.

However, we can also note that this sort of thing could happen for any number of other reasons. Still, I'll be interested to se how it develops.

harold said: John Kwok - For better or for worse, Chip is right here. To take an extreme example, Liberty University requires that its professors teach within their sectarian dogma, and is entitled to do so. Unlike Chip, I don't have a problem with this, as long as public and respectable private institutions aren't compromised. In fact, I strongly support the right of people who choose so to have their own sectarian schools and colleges, although I do not think that the degrees granted should be recognized as equivalent to mainstream degrees in most circumstances, unless they really are.

However, an institution like Columbia, although private, does adhere to very high standards of academic freedom.

As for the private activities of students, they should have a very low level of control over that. It seems to me (and everyone else here, apparently) that they are desperately over-reaching (albeit possibly with success) with regard to the son.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if all of this is related (duh), and if there is some kind of academic politics driving it all.

Matt, check out the Butler University website, under "Meet Our President", (http://www.butler.edu/president/biography), where I found the following:

"Following graduation from Harvard in 1973 with an A.B. in English, magna cum laude, and election to Phi Beta Kappa, Fong returned to California to earn his doctorate in English literature from UCLA in 1978. His dissertation research formed the basis for his lifelong scholarship in the works of Oscar Wilde. He is the editor of Poems and Poems In Prose, volume one in the Oxford English Texts edition of the Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, designated by Choice as one of the outstanding academic books of 2000. "

My friend Gaythia takes me too literally - of course it was the same Bobby Fong.

Also, I received a semi-private e-mail from Michael Zimmerman but assumed it was not for public consumption. According to a recent trackback, it has been published here and gives Professor Zimmerman's own account of events.

Well, I have to say Butler comes off quite badly in this exchange.

John Kwok said: Chip, I'd go either further. This is suppression of free speech IMHO. I wonder whether Butler University's administration has ever heard of John Peter Zenger:

Huffington Post has a piece on this affair titled Guantanamo Bay - College Division.

Oops. The above piece was the second of two. Here's the first.

In addition to the link given by RBH, Jess Zimmerman has initiated another blog, I am "John Doe", I think in mid-October. It appears now that the suit has not been withdrawn. If I understand it correctly, the university said it would not sue Mr. Zimmerman, but it has not withdrawn the suit against John Doe. In case you have any doubt about the identity of John Doe, just review the name of the blog.

In the last few days, Mr. Zimmerman published a carefully researched open letter by Gaythia Weis, who occasionally haunts these comments, and an essay by Marshall Gregory, the Ice Professor of English at Butler. I am sorry to tell you that of the 10 comments on Professor Gregory's essay, 6 were anonymous. At least some of those were purportedly written by tenured Butler faculty; only one faculty member signed her name.

Indeed, one tenured faculty member wrote an impassioned comment expressing anger and embarrassment at the university's handling of the case - and then with equal passion stated his or her unwillingness to sign the comment for fear of retribution. An untenured faculty member went even further - wrote using a laptop computer connected to the unsecured wi-fi network of a complete stranger.

Mr. Zimmerman is reportedly bearing up well, but his blog entry of October 24 tells us that the persecution is taking its toll.

Matt Young said: In addition to the link given by RBH, Jess Zimmerman has initiated another blog, I am "John Doe", I think in mid-October. It appears now that the suit has not been withdrawn. If I understand it correctly, the university said it would not sue Mr. Zimmerman, but it has not withdrawn the suit against John Doe. In case you have any doubt about the identity of John Doe, just review the name of the blog.