Tuesday, April 19, 2005

CATHOLIC TEACHINGS WRONG AT A CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY?

Why go to a Catholic university if you don't like Catholic teachings? Is diversity among universities not allowed? Or must all universities conform to Leftist ideas?

Refusal to allow formation of a gay student organization at Duquesne University is fanning an extraordinary debate on the Catholic campus, where 119 faculty and staff are publicly urging the administration to reconsider. What is being framed by some as a struggle pitting diversity against school mission surrounds sophomore Matthew Pratter. He penned an opinion piece in the student newspaper, The Duquesne Duke, recounting his failed bid to gain approval for a gay-straight alliance on the 10,000-student campus. Pratter argued that at schools where they exist, such groups promote dialogue and discourage harassment. "It is crucial to combat the 'better dead than gay' lesson that so many young people are taught," Pratter wrote. "This outreach does not mean an official endorsement of homosexuality, but rather a desire to provide support for people who may need to be supported, and a voice for those who need to be heard."

Pratter, an education major, said he was told by campus authorities whom he did not identify that such a proposal was in conflict with the school's mission. "When I inquired further, I was informed there were no homosexuals that attended Duquesne University," he wrote. Pratter's piece, in which he described himself as gay, brought a flood of letters to The Duke for and against his position after it was published on March 3. The matter escalated this week with the surfacing of a petition addressed to Duquesne President Charles Dougherty that by yesterday had garnered 119 signers campus-wide, most of whom teach in disciplines from theology to business to pharmacy.

Dougherty was traveling and unavailable late yesterday. Spokeswoman Bridget Fare said the matter is under review even though Pratter apparently did not go through proper channels in making his request. "The president and the administration recognize that it's an issue of concern and reflection, not only for Duquesne, but for campuses across the country," Fare said. "[School leaders] are taking it under consideration. They're discussing it. Any decision will be made in light of the school's mission."

Pratter, 21, of Bryn Mawr, said in an interview yesterday that he's heartened by the response including other gay students who wrote to The Duke. "I'm not alone. There clearly are other students in my position as a gay student on a Catholic campus," he said. The petition was drafted by several professors involved in social justice issues and conveyed electronically across campus. Fred Evans, a philosophy professor who helped circulate it, said there are moral and educational issues involved beyond one's thinking on whether a group supportive of gays is any different from one that represents international students or African-American students.

More here






ANOTHER NUTTY PROFESSOR -- AT UCLA

Dr. James Barnard, a professor of Physiological Science at UCLA, is no one’s idea of a bon-a-fide professor. To the conservative, he is politically outrageous and intolerant. To the liberal, he is embarrassing and discomforting. To the apathetic, he is dreary and dull. Professor Barnard taught in the fall of 2004 the first half of Physiological Sciences 5, Diet and Exercise. (The second half was taught by Professor Roberts, a much better and apolitical teacher.) There are several features that became apparent to us from Barnard’s introductory lecture.....

It is also obvious from the get-go that Dr. Barnard is a pessimist. His very attitude and tone suggest a deeply-rooted negativity. Even in the most benign of things, Barnard finds an omen to global pandemonium. This observation is well documented on Bruinwalk.com, our professor ratings service. One student writes, “You are going to die. This is the message I got from the 2 and a half weeks of cardiovascular physiology I took from him…. The man has some sorta ultra-pessimistic outlook on life and is intent on convincing his students that a slow, painful death is at hand.”

The two biggest causes of concern are pesticides and cigarettes. Pesticides, of course, are the cause of infections, ailments, and even death. Meanwhile, cigarettes are deadly and wicked. Therefore, those that use pesticides and those that smoke cigarettes are bad, bad people. What makes Barnard an inductee to our Academian Nut series is not, however, his pessimism or his crippled logic. It’s what he holds to be the cause of his pessimism: capitalism and corporate America. In the first week of class, Barnard was already on his soapbox. “The greatest problem that we all face is corporate greed,” he announced. Corporations, he continued, are guilty in the production of destructive commodities and in the cover-up of their damaging effects on human life. And he wouldn’t stop. For a whole half hour, Barnard opined and pontificated.

As if this was not enough, he proceeded to show the class a one-sided documentary that slurred corporations that produce pesticides. The documentary, which interviewed “victims of corporate negligence” and representatives of various left-wing environmental groups gave legitimacy to Barnard’s claims. And to the interested students, Barnard was kind enough to recommend the book Crimes Against Nature by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. The book is a ferocious hatchet-job on the Bush administration.

The opening lecture was so horrifyingly political, so biased, that nobody could dismiss the unfairness. A liberal student next to me said, “I agree with him and I can even admit that this is guy is a political hack. All he wants to do is shove his views on his students.”

More here

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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