Adjunct university lecturer says she was harassed, fired over religious controversy

[Elizabeth I]

From the May 31, 2012, San Antonio Express-News:

An outspoken Texas A&M University-San Antonio lecturer who opposed the placement of decorative crosses on a tower at the university's entrance said she was harassed for her opinions, feared for her safety on campus and was recently told that she would not be asked back to teach there next fall.

The instructor says she was originally told she would be teaching four classes in the next semester. The university says she wasn't the only instructor they let go.

[truethat]

She gave them an easy decision in a crap economy. Welcome to stupidisville. Population YOU.

She's a freakin' adjunct. Hello? Just give them a reason not to hire you back and they won't. Any instructor worth their salt knows you keep your mouth shut until you get tenure and then unleash the beast.

[devnull]

yes, its obvious people should buckle to those with power, even if they are wrong.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

[autumn1971]

Originally Posted by truethat

She gave them an easy decision in a crap economy. Welcome to stupidisville. Population YOU.

She's a freakin' adjunct. Hello? Just give them a reason not to hire you back and they won't. Any instructor worth their salt knows you keep your mouth shut until you get tenure and then unleash the beast.

But, if ( and I give you it's a great big capital IF,) she is in any way accurate about the reasons (and for another great big if, she has evidence,) for her being let go, the school will cost itself far more money than was saved by letting her go. In the future, this school, and others, will think twice about bowing to the pressure of the American Taliban.
(more IF's in that last assumption.)

[truethat]

She will never be able to prove it and she's basically written herself out of any sort of job in the future by being the sort of person that would go to the press for something like this. I mean full on professors have been denied tenure and not been able to prove it. In this economy it's going to be very hard for her to actually prove this was their motivation.

Quote:

A spokeswoman for the university said campus police have thoroughly investigated Sissy Bradford's complaints and said she was one of about 20 adjunct staff members who won't be teaching next fall because of the university's changing needs..........the eight staff members who worked in the School of Arts and Sciences were notified on the same day and without knowledge of the blog.



Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/edu...#ixzz1wWmRnvFq

And "oh please" for good men to do evil yadda yadda yadda. She's an adjunct. Do you know what that means? It's the equivalent of being a substitute teacher in high school.

You can't get tenure unless you get a tenure track position and going to the press with complaints about school administration is the death knell for an aspiring professor. She can basically kiss her career goodbye.

[marplots]

Originally Posted by devnull

yes, its obvious people should buckle to those with power, even if they are wrong.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

You'd think so, but I can tell you that it's no easy task to triumph over good. Evil takes one whale of a lot of work. It just doesn't happen all by itself.

As far as fighting power, I hope one of her students uses that meme to get a better grade by fighting the injustice of a poorly worded test question.

[tsig]

Originally Posted by devnull

yes, its obvious people should buckle to those with power, even if they are wrong.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Good men committing suicide solves nothing.

[Giordano]

Sure- whatever you do don't take a personal risk for a greater cause.

Think! Martin Luther King Jr could still be a nice preacher with a secure career at a small church if he hadn't been so stupid to make such a big fuss. All the individuals throughout history who were tortured or killed when they choose to oppose a tyrant: all dumb idiots who should have known what to expect. Not brave- dumb.

And if someone's life or career does suffer because they took a moral stand- it's their own damn fault! Don't even try to defend or help them.

[marplots]

I'm missing the larger than life moral issue here.
Perhaps my ability to generate outrage is faulty.

The idea is that an adjunct professor was fired because she protested something, right?

Could we work in a race angle or a gender bias thing?

[tsig]

Originally Posted by Giordano

Sure- whatever you do don't take a personal risk for a greater cause.

Think! Martin Luther King Jr could still be a nice preacher with a secure career at a small church if he hadn't been so stupid to make such a big fuss. All the individuals throughout history who were tortured or killed when they choose to oppose a tyrant: all dumb idiots who should have known what to expect. Not brave- dumb.

And if someone's life or career does suffer because they took a moral stand- it's their own damn fault! Don't even try to defend or help them.

Hysterical much.

[Muldur]

Originally Posted by truethat

She gave them an easy decision in a crap economy. Welcome to stupidisville. Population YOU.

She's a freakin' adjunct. Hello? Just give them a reason not to hire you back and they won't. Any instructor worth their salt knows you keep your mouth shut until you get tenure and then unleash the beast.

Which is why we should abolish tenure, so that teachers can be held accountable for their radicalism.

[truethat]

Originally Posted by Giordano

Sure- whatever you do don't take a personal risk for a greater cause.

Think! Martin Luther King Jr could still be a nice preacher with a secure career at a small church if he hadn't been so stupid to make such a big fuss. All the individuals throughout history who were tortured or killed when they choose to oppose a tyrant: all dumb idiots who should have known what to expect. Not brave- dumb.

And if someone's life or career does suffer because they took a moral stand- it's their own damn fault! Don't even try to defend or help them.

Your seriously comparing the Civil Rights movement and torture at the hands of a tyrant to decorative crosses on a building?


That were removed?

Martin Luther King Jr. by the way stood up for what he believed in and took a stand. He voiced an unpopular opinion and stood by it. He didn't whine to the media and sue because it was unfair.

You gotta pick your battles. You also have to pick the way you express your opinion on the issue at hand. If she was a whiney PITA then it stands to reason they might not want to deal with her any more.

You ruffle feathers on your job and you run the risk of losing your job. That's across the board. You trash the administration at your job and constantly go to the press with it, you run the risk of losing your job.

Adjuncting is very very competitive. She shot herself in the foot. No one is even going to care who she is in about a week.

[Mister Agenda]

Perhaps the campus police were right in labeling the death threats against her as negative feedback. I wouldn't trust any (hypothetical) kids of mine to them, and although I'm no expert, a criminology instructor may know exactly where she stands legally. Or not, she just might be outspoken, damn the consequences.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by Elizabeth I

From the May 31, 2012, San Antonio Express-News:

An outspoken Texas A&M University-San Antonio lecturer who opposed the placement of decorative crosses on a tower at the university's entrance said she was harassed for her opinions, feared for her safety on campus and was recently told that she would not be asked back to teach there next fall.

The instructor says she was originally told she would be teaching four classes in the next semester. The university says she wasn't the only instructor they let go.

Maybe she was used as a token opposite example since if you watch the movie "Expelled" with Ben Stein (that I recommend) it seems that the advocates of Intelligent design are the ones who get the most harassment at colleges. One of the movie's examples pointed out a professor-- who helped discover a new planet-- who feels he was harassed for daring to write a paper about intelligent design.

[calebprime]

One thing we all can agree on is that adjunct faculty have less power in higher ed even than janitors building operations personnel. I didn't fully appreciate this until I was adjunct faculty myself. What a joke.

[Craig B]

Originally Posted by DOC

Maybe she was used as a token opposite example since if you watch the movie "Expelled" with Ben Stein (that I recommend) it seems that the advocates of Intelligent design are the ones who get the most harassment at colleges. One of the movie's examples pointed out a professor-- who helped discover a new planet-- who feels he was harassed for daring to write a paper about intelligent design.

Name of professor and of college which caused him to feel he was being harassed, please.

[DOC]

Originally Posted by DOC

Maybe she was used as a token opposite example since if you watch the movie "Expelled" with Ben Stein (that I recommend) it seems that the advocates of Intelligent design are the ones who get the most harassment at colleges. One of the movie's examples pointed out a professor-- who helped discover a new planet-- who feels he was harassed for daring to write a paper about intelligent design.

Originally Posted by Craig B

Name of professor and of college which caused him to feel he was being harassed, please.

From Wiki's article on the movie "Expelled"

Guillermo Gonzalez, an astrophysicist who had been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University, is interviewed by Stein, who claims that despite a "stellar" research record that led to the discovery of new planets, Gonzalez was denied tenure because his book The Privileged Planet argued that the universe is intelligently designed. Gonzalez claims that, prior to his tenure review, he was the subject of a campaign on campus to "poison the atmosphere" against him, and that he would almost certainly have been granted tenure had he not been an advocate for intelligent design. The film interviewed a member of the Iowa State University faculty who stated that Gonzalez was denied tenure because the university feared that if they granted Gonzalez tenure the university would become associated with the Intelligent Design movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expelle...igence_Allowed

[Elizabeth I]

Originally Posted by DOC

Maybe she was used as a token opposite example...

In South Texas? Surely you jest.

Quote:

...since if you watch the movie "Expelled" with Ben Stein (that I recommend)...

Gee, there's a surprise.

ETA: Just to share the other side of the story:

Quote:

According to ISU, Gonzalez’s tenure decision was based on “refereed publications, his level of success in attracting research funding and grants, the amount of telescope observing time he had been granted, the number of graduate students he had supervised, and most importantly, the overall evidence of future career promise in the field of astronomy.” As documented below, the university had grounds to conclude that the early promise of Gonzalez’s career was not being met....

Gonzalez’s publication output dropped steadily during his time at ISU. The work he did publish was based on re-evaluations of data he had previously collected or analyses of other people’s data.

An assessment by the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required) found that:

…a closer look at Mr. Gonzalez’s case raises some questions about his recent scholarship and whether he has lived up to his early promise. …

Under normal circumstances, Mr. Gonzalez’s publication record would be stellar and would warrant his earning tenure at most universities, according to Mr. Hirsch [a scholar who analyzed the publication record]. But Mr. Gonzalez completed the best scholarship, as judged by his peers, while doing postdoctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Washington, where he received his Ph.D. His record has trailed off since then.

“It looks like it slowed down considerably,” said Mr. Hirsch…. “It’s not clear that he started new things, or anything on his own, in the period he was an assistant professor at Iowa State.”

- http://www.expelledexposed.com/index...truth/gonzalez

[Krikkiter]

Originally Posted by DOC

From Wiki's article on the movie "Expelled"

Guillermo Gonzalez, an astrophysicist who had been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Iowa State University, is interviewed by Stein, who claims that despite a "stellar" research record that led to the discovery of new planets, Gonzalez was denied tenure because his book The Privileged Planet argued that the universe is intelligently designed. Gonzalez claims that, prior to his tenure review, he was the subject of a campaign on campus to "poison the atmosphere" against him, and that he would almost certainly have been granted tenure had he not been an advocate for intelligent design. The film interviewed a member of the Iowa State University faculty who stated that Gonzalez was denied tenure because the university feared that if they granted Gonzalez tenure the university would become associated with the Intelligent Design movement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expelle...igence_Allowed

Were you being deliberately dishonest there or did you accidentally not read the next paragraph?

"Prior to the film's release Iowa State University addressed the controversy regarding Gonzalez's tenure by saying that after the normal review of his qualifications, such as his record of scientific publications (which had dropped sharply after he joined the faculty),[55][56] he was not granted tenure and promotion on the grounds that he "simply did not show the trajectory of excellence that we expect in a candidate seeking tenure in physics and astronomy." Eli Rosenberg, the chairman of the Astronomy department, also noted that during Gonzalez's time at Iowa State, Gonzalez had failed to secure any form of substantial outside funding.[57] In the previous decade, four of the 12 candidates who came up for review in the department were not granted tenure."

ETA: Darn you beat me to it Elizabeth I.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by devnull

yes, its obvious people should buckle to those with power, even if they are wrong.

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

"A spokeswoman for the university said campus police have thoroughly investigated Sissy Bradford's complaints and said she was one of about 20 adjunct staff members who won't be teaching next fall because of the university's changing needs."

[DOC]

Originally Posted by Krikkiter

Were you being deliberately dishonest there or did you accidentally not read the next paragraph?

"Prior to the film's release Iowa State University addressed the controversy regarding Gonzalez's tenure by saying that after the normal review of his qualifications, such as his record of scientific publications (which had dropped sharply after he joined the faculty),[55][56] he was not granted tenure and promotion on the grounds that he "simply did not show the trajectory of excellence that we expect in a candidate seeking tenure in physics and astronomy." Eli Rosenberg, the chairman of the Astronomy department, also noted that during Gonzalez's time at Iowa State, Gonzalez had failed to secure any form of substantial outside funding.[57] In the previous decade, four of the 12 candidates who came up for review in the department were not granted tenure."

So it must be no big deal then to do work that helps discover other planets like Gonzalez did.

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by DOC

Maybe she was used as a token opposite example since if you watch the movie "Expelled" with Ben Stein (that I recommend) it seems that the advocates of Intelligent design are the ones who get the most harassment at colleges. One of the movie's examples pointed out a professor-- who helped discover a new planet-- who feels he was harassed for daring to write a paper about intelligent design.

A bunch of lies, being fired for incompetence is being fired for incompetence.

Maybe you should actually give name so we can deconstruct the falsehoods.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by Krikkiter

Were you being deliberately dishonest there or did you accidentally not read the next paragraph?

"Prior to the film's release Iowa State University addressed the controversy regarding Gonzalez's tenure by saying that after the normal review of his qualifications, such as his record of scientific publications (which had dropped sharply after he joined the faculty),[55][56] he was not granted tenure and promotion on the grounds that he "simply did not show the trajectory of excellence that we expect in a candidate seeking tenure in physics and astronomy." Eli Rosenberg, the chairman of the Astronomy department, also noted that during Gonzalez's time at Iowa State, Gonzalez had failed to secure any form of substantial outside funding.[57] In the previous decade, four of the 12 candidates who came up for review in the department were not granted tenure."

ETA: Darn you beat me to it Elizabeth I.

Publish or perish, provide revenue or get out.

[Krikkiter]

Originally Posted by DOC

So it must be no big deal then to do work that helps discover other planets like Gonzalez did.

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

First, no. People should absolutely not watch Expelled.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/expe...gence_allowed/

"Full of patronizing, poorly structured arguments, Expelled is a cynical political stunt in the guise of a documentary."

Well, they can if they want but they should be warned that it's utter *****.

Second, as Elizabeth I's quote states:

"But Mr. Gonzalez completed the best scholarship, as judged by his peers, while doing postdoctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin and at the University of Washington, where he received his Ph.D. His record has trailed off since then."

... it would seem that his groundbreaking work (discovering planets perhaps?) was done at UoT and UoW.

Last, so your answer to this question:

Originally Posted by Krikkiter

Were you being deliberately dishonest there or did you accidentally not read the next paragraph?

... is what?

[Krikkiter]

Originally Posted by Dancing David

Publish or perish, provide revenue or get out.

Yup. He was hired to do a job and after a reasonable amount of time with not much to show for it he wasn't re-hired.

I'm sure there was a contract too, that bound him to certain obligations regarding his tenure.

Not sure if that was exactly the case with the woman in the OP, but It seems reasonable.

[marplots]

Originally Posted by DOC

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

If he wasn't a good example (and I don't think he was) then who else in the film would be a better one? I have no problem accepting that there is bias in academic appointments, but it does no good to spin stuff to make the case. It ends up backfiring and loses credibility.

[Craig B]

Originally Posted by Craig B

Name of professor and of college which caused him to feel he was being harassed, please.

@ DOC

Quote:

Guillermo Gonzales, an astrophysicist ...

Thanks for that. And thanks to the other posters for their informative contributions.

[truethat]

Great so we can agree that neither Gonzales nor this woman were fired because of bias. They were ground up in the system.

[Muldur]

And exactly who determines when an astrophysicist gets telescope time, or when he gets to publish a paper, or whether or not he brings in funding?

The same Science establishment that decrys ID and persecutes ID proponents.

Then they smugly point to the "academic reasons" why the Professor didn't get tenure...reasons they set up.

Nice when you're judge, jury AND executioner, isn't it?

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by Muldur

And exactly who determines when an astrophysicist gets telescope time, or when he gets to publish a paper, or whether or not he brings in funding?

The same Science establishment that decrys ID and persecutes ID proponents.

Then they smugly point to the "academic reasons" why the Professor didn't get tenure...reasons they set up.

Nice when you're judge, jury AND executioner, isn't it?

Is that sarcasm? Or real, I am asking before saying,

What evidence is there that the panel that sets the scope time would even have heard about the ID paper?

[marplots]

Originally Posted by Muldur

And exactly who determines when an astrophysicist gets telescope time, or when he gets to publish a paper, or whether or not he brings in funding?

Peers. This is a method where you have experts deciding stuff about other experts, mostly because, well, you know -- they have expertise.

Quote:

The same Science establishment that decrys ID and persecutes ID proponents.

Yes. Pretty much how in some universities (ID pro-universities like Bob Jones) you might have to sign a statement of faith. They are filtering out who is a peer and who isn't.

Quote:

Then they smugly point to the "academic reasons" why the Professor didn't get tenure...reasons they set up.

Nice when you're judge, jury AND executioner, isn't it?

Yep. Except I really don't want my plumber to publish his ideas in peer reviewed journals and I don't want to be able to get telescope time for my wife. So, I accept there ought to be some mechanism to weed out the crazy, the ill informed or the "not ready for prime time."

I'm not exactly sure what other mechanism might work. There are outsider institutions like the creation institute that can, and do, collect money and focus on other ideas. Do you suppose a non-supporter of ID and creation myths would (or should) get time on their telescope? Suppose I wanted to put up an evolution display at the creation museum? I think they have the right to say me nay.

I don't see why this would strike anyone as unfair.

[Careyp74]

Originally Posted by marplots

I'm missing the larger than life moral issue here.
Perhaps my ability to generate outrage is faulty.

The idea is that an adjunct professor was fired because she protested something, right?

Could we work in a race angle or a gender bias thing?

OK, how about ALL the teachers that were let go were human. There is a race issue for you. ( I very much doubt that they all have any commonalities beyond that. I don't think much of them cared one way or the other about the decorative crosses.)

[DC]

Originally Posted by DOC

So it must be no big deal then to do work that helps discover other planets like Gonzalez did.

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

i watched it and its crap , very dishonest nonsense.

[Jeff Corey]

Originally Posted by DOC

So it must be no big deal then to do work that helps discover other planets like Gonzalez did.

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

No, it was only one of the examples of how the propaganda film distorted the truth. Cite another example and we will examine it. Want to bet on the outcome?

[Mister Agenda]

Originally Posted by DOC

So it must be no big deal then to do work that helps discover other planets like Gonzalez did.

People should watch "Expelled" and judge for themselves. Gonzalez wasn't the only example given in the film.

There's some expectation that a professor being granted tenure won't just be resting on his laurels.

Every single example given in the film is highly questionable.

[pgwenthold]

Originally Posted by Muldur

And exactly who determines when an astrophysicist gets telescope time, or when he gets to publish a paper, or whether or not he brings in funding?

The same Science establishment that decrys ID and persecutes ID proponents.

It could be that way, depending on to what extent his non-scientific beliefs are promoted by him. But then again, it's never a good idea in this business to make yourself look like an idiot in front of the people who have the opportunity to advance or stall your career.

But then again, look at what you are saying. Gonzalez didn't get tenure because he ran afoul of the scientific community, who didn't respect his work.

I have to ask you, exactly what do you think is needed to get tenure in the first place? I'll give you a hint: you have to establish yourself as a legitimate scientist.

You aren't helping Gonzalez's case here. If the scientific community doesn't have any respect for him as a scientist, then why in the blazes would Iowa State want him on their faculty?

And your "judge, jury, and executioner" comment is completely wrong. Yes, the scientific community judges his contributions, and if they don't deem them worthy, he won't get funded or support from the community. But the faculty at Iowa State are the ones who make the decision whether to grant tenure, and to do that, they have to look at things like, how well is he respected in the scientific community? Even then, they have the option to ignore what the others say about him, and promote him anyway, although they would be really dumb to do so (Iowa State wants the best faculty they can get). And executioner? IIRC, he went out and found a job with someone willing to overlook everything else, so he is far from executed. It's no where near as quality of a place as Iowa State, and, in fact, is a place where the funding issue is not near as critical. Hence, his lack of telescope time is not a problem for his current place.

So he was not at all executed - he went to a place that was more in line with his capabilities. It happens with non-tenured faculty all the time.