Mouth, Meet Money...

Bubblehead Les sends in a story about a MA professor who did more than just write an e-mail about a situation he found untenable:

Law Professor Quits Job After Colleague Calls Care Packages for U.S. Troops 'Shameful'

A law professor who is serving overseas in Afghanistan has quit his job at a Massachusetts university after a colleague sent out a controversial e-mail declaring it "shameful" to send care packages to U.S. troops.

U.S. Army Reserve Maj. Robert Roughsedge cut ties with Suffolk University in Boston in response to fellow law professor Michael Avery's defamatory e-mail regarding troops fighting overseas, Fox affiliate WFXT-TV reports.

Without divulging too much insider information (I happen to know a few Suffolk graduates...), Suffolk is doing their damnedest to keep this out of the media. They're in the middle of a full-fledged fundraising drive, putting on a push to get alumni - many of whom are powerful Boston-based attorneys - to kick in and donate to the university. It is in their best interest to make sure this controversy stays as far from the limelight as possible.

Well, this is my soapbox. I am under no such constraints. I think it's deplorable that Suffolk would tolerate such talk - Professor Avery has referred to our soldiers in harm's way as "killers", which, while certainly true for some, is absolutely no different than calling our men and women in law enforcement "killers" because some of their members have indeed been involved in fatal shootings. Suffolk may be hiding behind the cover of "academic freedom", but I think we can all guess what would happen to a professor who, say, spoke out against the Occupy[Placename] group as "unwashed hippies and drug addicts"...

And now, Professor Avery's words have cost Suffolk a professor. Avery's words - and the fact that Suffolk fell over themselves to both hide those words and support them - have made teaching law at Suffolk a - to use their own terms against them - hostile work environment. How could Professor Roughsedge continue at Suffolk knowing that one of his peers consider the work he's doing as an Army Reservist "shameful" and views him only as a "killer"? If I were to use my company's e-mail system to refer to [insert protected minority here] as [insert gross overgeneralization here], I suspect my term of employment would be measured in minutes - if not seconds.

Well, Suffolk, you have yourselves a problem here. In the name of one professor's "academic freedom", you have made the work environment at your university intolerable for another professor to the point where he felt it necessary to tender his resignation. If that's not a hostile environment I don't know what is. I hope that Professor Roughsedge finds himself positively inundated with teaching opportunities, ideally at universities that are not afraid to acknowledge that with free speech comes the freedom to bear the consequences of that speech.

It is certainly to wonder what Professor Avery is hoping to accomplish with this. His words were obviously crafted to be as incendiary as possible, to evoke the biggest reaction possible without delving into slander, racism, or crude sexism. It certainly appears as though he's either testing limits - getting back to the "five year old throwing a tantrum" analogy evoked by Professor Roughsedge - or he's spoiling for a fight. One thing's for certain here, though - he is certainly causing harm to the reputation and honor of Suffolk University with his inflammatory rhetoric.

I also hope and urge every alumnus and parents of alumni out there to send back Suffolk fundraising letters empty. Refuse to take the calls they will place to your homes - unless and until Suffolk acknowledge that Professor Avery's words were uncalled for and unwarranted in our society, your wallet will remain closed to the university. Do not allow one professor's cherished "protected speech" to drive away other professors from Suffolk - or, better yet, support other, more tolerant universities with your donations...

Actions have consequences - make sure that Suffolk understands this fully.

That is all.