The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To mock or mentor, that is the question at Marquette
There are few sympathetic characters in the landmark lawsuit between Marquette University and a suspended professor that’s heading later this month to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The professor, John McAdams, is suing the university for indefinitely suspending him without pay, allegedly in violation of a contractually binding guarantee of free speech and academic liberty. McAdams, 72, was suspended after he posted on his blog a graduate student-teacher’s name and a link to her contact information, along with a mocking critique of her having allegedly stifled a class discussion of samesex marriage.
The case has catapulted to the highest court in the state in a legal maneuver that essentially asks the court to “develop and explain” the laws governing academic freedom. This seems a bad enough idea on its face. Ironically, it’s being forced by conservatives, who usually protest the calumny of legislating by legal fiat.
Briefly, McAdams’ blog posting went viral, with a little help from McAdams, who drafted conservative talk radio hosts to help tell his version of the story. As a result, the student-teacher, Cheryl Abbate, received harassing emails and at least one death threat, prompting the university to provide a security detail.
Her alleged offense — blocking the classroom discussion — was, in fact, a confrontation after class that was initiated by a student, “JD,” who was associated with a conservative activist group that encourages students to secretly record liberal professors, according to the Faculty Hearing Committee that recommended suspending McAdams.
Before Abbate became suspicious that she was being taped, which JD at first denied, she made several regrettable, nay, preposterous statements — one, that debating same-sex marriage was “homophobic,” and, two, that such a debate might cause gay students to feel uncomfortable. (P.S.: Nowhere is it written that a person shall never feel uncomfortable.)
Besides, this was nowhere near the point.
As Marquette President Michael Lovell explained to me by phone, the class in question was discussing philosopher John Rawls’ Equal Liberty Principle and whether victimless activities should not be illegal. Abbate was going down a checklist of contemporary issues students had suggested might be applicable, including mandatory seatbelt laws, marijuana smoking and samesex marriage.
When, after class, JD objected to the latter, Abbate said the issue was settled — meaning that it fit Rawls’ no-harm-to-others definition and, therefore, was not up for discussion. JD pursued Abbate, apparently as part of a premeditated plan to get her “liberalism” on record. JD then took his tape to another faculty member and at least one dean, but went unheeded.
Finally, he went to McAdams and, voila: A hotly contested issue was born. The university’s position is that McAdams’ first responsibility is to the students. Thrusting Abbate, then in her mid-20s, onto the stalker’s block for ridicule and potential harm was, thus, an abdication of his professorial role, the university claims.
So: How does one render a distilled, pristine legal judgment in such a chaotic, ideologically driven mess? For now, alas, the only certainty is that Rawls’ no-harm-to-others principle is NA — non applicable. Too much foul, too much harm.