Correspondence
Correspondence AIR FARCE AS A RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE, I seethed as I read Peter Kirstein's visceral, nauseating tantrum against the hapless Air Force cadet in Jed Babbin's "When Professors...
...But the story does not end there...
...Despite Professor Boyle's best (or worst) efforts, free speech lives on at the University of Illinois College of Law...
...No doubt, this is not the last we will hear from Professor Boyle, but Dean Hurd's e-mail was certainly a refreshing example of one case where a law school has gotten it right...
...DOMINIQUE FANIZZA Champaign, IL...
...As one scrolls down to the end of the apology, the reader is slapped by Kirstein's indefatigable pride in the form of his signature: "Peter N. Kirstein, Ph.D...
...Even in his contrition he is condescending...
...Any school that teaches First Amendment freedoms must practice what it preaches," Dean Hurd wrote, "and both the administration and the faculty take very seriously the obligation to protect the free exchange of ideas and opinions here at the College of Law...
...Such is the state of academia today that an ivory tower pacifist like Kirstein could have the gall to call American pilots "cowards," particularly when some of Kirstein's generation, lacking his peculiar brand of "courage," eschewed the false security of appeasement, apology, and ivy-covered walls, and flew missions against the Viet Cong (whom Kirstein predictably rallies behind) and never returned...
...But what I found particularly telling were the contents of Kirstein's second, ostensibly genuine apology to any and all whom he may have offended...
...Apparently unaware of the irony, he rebukes the Air Force for fighting unfairly against an enemy "without the possibility of retaliation...
...THOMAS M. RICKERS Washington, DC JED BABBIN WRITES in "When Professors Attack" of Saint Xavier University's decision to punish one of its professors for what the university charges were his "inflammatory, anti-military comments...
...Correspondence AIR FARCE AS A RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATE, I seethed as I read Peter Kirstein's visceral, nauseating tantrum against the hapless Air Force cadet in Jed Babbin's "When Professors Attack" (Dec...
...DAVID PETERSON Evergreen Park, IL BOYLE BASHING...
...The real issues are (a) whether a tenured academic at an American university enjoys the freedom to express his views, and (b) whether an American university has the courage to defend one of its own in the face of a pack of jackals calling for his dismissal over speech they dislike...
...The statement might have been credible were the contents of his original invective not so utterly consistent with the true feelings of the self-proclaimed "revisionist" leftist professors like Kirstein...
...We are all worse off for Saint Xavier's sacrifice of its professor...
...Accusing the event and its sponsors of being "anti-Catholic" and "racist" on the law school's electronic mailing list, Boyle triggered an e-mail war in which many students weighed in on the ridiculousness of his claims...
...Patrick's Day Bar Crawl (picked up by the Wall Street Journal's Best of the Web) was just one example of his astonishing behavior...
...Perhaps he would feel differently about leveling the playing field if he was doing the fighting...
...Justice Department's Office of Civil Rights for "hostile work environment," alleging that his posting precipitated a stream of insulting e-mails directed at him—at least one of which he claims was from a member of the school's administration...
...In response, Boyle threatened to file a complaint with the U.S...
...The answers are (a) not in the case of Peter Kirstein's anti-military views, and (b) not at Saint Xavier University...
...The issue," he opines, "is whether someone like Kirstein . . . is fit to teach at any college...
...With this, Babbin manages to get the Kirstein affair upside down...
...As testament to the law school's commitment to free speech, its latest dean, Heidi Hurd, immediately fired back a strongly worded but respectful e-mail in defense of the student body, affirming the students' right to speak without fear of sanctions or retaliation...
...She noted that that right extended to the criticism of administrators and faculty members, and publicly scolded Boyle for his inappropriate threats...
...Throughout academia they taint the quality of our education with their bias even as they scold us for suggesting that the corrosive ideological imbalance on today's campuses is anything other than "right-wing" hysteria...
...Professor Boyle's outlandish response to the Irish Law Students Association's sponsorship of a Pre-St...
...Perhaps I might suggest a different title: "Peter N. Kirstein, So.B...
...THE SCRAPBOOK'S MENTION of Professor Francis Boyle was on target, but as a second-year law student at the University of Illinois, I have a few more tales out of school to supplement The Scrapbook's account (Dec...
...After disgracing his profession and his title, he is still unable to refrain from reminding us of his "qualifications...
...Just last week, Boyle caused another e-mail war when, in response to a wholly unrelated posting that merely made a passing reference to his name, he sent out a mass mailing with the subject line "To Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights: 'Boyle Bashing,'" and threatened to report and forward the emails of any students critical of him and his extremist postings to the bar association's character and fitness commit-tee—a blatant attempt to stifle any speech not in agreement with his own...
...A little-known fact about Professor Boyle, though one that should come as no surprise given his record, is the daily campaign he wages against the free speech rights of the University of Illinois College of Law's students...
Vol. 8 • December 2002 • No. 14
