Attempt to Fire Warrior Blogger: Media React

It was largely eclipsed by March Madness, and the fact that it was revealed on the day before Good Friday (and too late in the day to make the 5:00 p.m. news), something that was doubtless intentional on Marquette’s part.   But the punishment the university wants to mete out to this blogger did get some media attention. Here is a short list of a few of the articles, and the “money quote” from each of them.

First, the local daily paper:

Marquette suspends John McAdams through the fall 2016 semester

Marquette Provost Daniel Myers said Thursday that the case was about upholding Marquette’s mission and values.

“We’re here to nurture and grow students in a way that hews to our Jesuit values,” he said. “In the end, these kinds of cases, for us, are really about making sure we live up to those values.”

WILL PRESS RELEASE | MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY DECISION ON PROFESSOR MCADAMS

Today, the University ignored that its almost sixteen-month suspension of Dr. McAdams was improper. While it followed the recommendation that he be suspended, it also imposed a requirement that, within two weeks, he admit his “guilt.” If he refuses to do so, he will not be reinstated. Such a requirement of self-abasement and compelled speech was not recommended by the Faculty Hearing Committee.

The Committee found that Marquette had improperly suspended Dr. McAdams in violation of his due process rights under the Faculty Statutes and disagreed with the University’s desire to terminate him. It did recommend that he be suspended for one to two semesters, with benefits, but without pay.

In its lengthy report, the Faculty Hearing Committee gave lip service to academic freedom but made it subject to a multi-factor after-the-fact balancing test that would leave members of the university with no real guidance or protection other than the sufferance of their colleagues. In other words, University faculty retain freedom of speech only so far as their colleagues are willing to tolerate it.

McAdams: ‘Academic freedom means nothing at Marquette’

If McAdams doesn’t admit his “guilt” within the next two weeks, he will not be reinstated.

He remains defiant, saying he will not apologize.

“Marquette’s administration appears to believe that they can simply ignore the guarantee of academic freedom contained in faculty contracts, and get rid of a professor who has created problems for them by blowing the whistle on various kinds of misconduct at the institution,” McAdams told Wisconsin Watchdog.

“I didn’t violate any rule that they have. They have just concocted a claim based on vague rhetoric about Marquette’s values. In the face of such actions, academic freedom means nothing at Marquette,” the professor added.

Marquette Continues to Earn ‘Worst School’ for Free Speech Label With New Punishments for McAdams

This development comes as the result of recommendations made to Marquette President Michael Lovell by a faculty hearing committee in January. However, according to a report today from Inside Higher Ed, a lawyer for McAdams claims that the faculty panel never recommended, in its confidential 123-page report, that McAdams apologize as a condition for his return to work—a condition that amounts to an age-old inquisitorial tactic used to violate freedom of conscience through compelled speech. That condition, it appears, was apparently imposed by the administration.

. . .

As a result of Marquette’s complete disregard for McAdams’ right to free speech and academic freedom, FIRE placed the university on its list of the worst colleges for free speech in each of the last two years. With Marquette’s latest unjust actions against McAdams, the university seems to be angling for permanent residence on our list.