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4 comments - Last on 02/12/2009
Update on UW Fox Dean's Blog
Last week I drew attention to the UW Fox Campus Blog, authored by the campus dean, Dr. James Perry. The blog is a forum (sponsored by the university) that the dean has used in the past to encourage students to register for classes, to question whether blatant PDA should be allowed on the campus’s public couches, and to pump up school spirit. Dean Perry’s January 27 posting, “Thoughts on a New Era,” drew some controversy when Dr. M. D. Allen, a professor of English at UW Fox Valley, wrote a comment suggesting that the dean should not have used his forum at a state university to advertise his personal political views—and lamenting that Dean Perry did not even seem to realize they were political. What followed Dr. Allen’s posting was an extended cyber-discussion on whether terms like “social justice” and “sustainability” carry connotations of partisan politics; whether Dean Perry should be able to “advocate political points of view on the state dime”; and why the Dean why the Dean wrote that at President Obama’s inauguration, “for the first time in a long time I was proud again to be an American." Dr. Allen posed and responded to such questions, writing five comments altogether, out of 31 total.
While some commenters insisted that the dean’s politics were invisible (“He didn't say Democrats or Republicans or Independents or whoever were right or wrong or anything of the sort, at least that I can tell”), most posts expressed gratitude to Dr. Allen for speaking up:
Thank you for voicing what I was thinking when I read Dean Perry’s “Thoughts on a New Era,” your words gave me hope and encouragement. Please continue to speak for those of us who don’t have such clarity and confidence in our voices yet.
Another post affirmed his conclusion: “Dr. Allen is correct to point out that it is high time those in the academy respect the limitations of academic authority and the public trust by which that academic authority is dispensed.” Yet another commenter wrote that although UW talks a lot about valuing diversity, “Apparently diversity at Fox means having a lot of people on campus who look different but think alike.”
After the comments had run on, people began to get antsy. In several posts, they called for Dean Perry to respond to the debate with some sort of explanatory message. The latest comment (anonymous) says, “Where's the dean? Dean Perry has an obligation, particularly as a public figure, to respond to the numerous criticisms lodged here. He should either defend his blog or apologize publicly for misusing his high-profile position to convey political views.”
But Dean Perry did not defend or apologize. On Friday, he wrote a new blog entry about publicizing campus athletics. He made no mention of his previous posting, the comments that followed it, or the vote that ended up heavily in favor of Dr. Allen. He also could not be reached for comment for this article. Last week, his secretary told me she would have him call me back; he never did. I talked to Dr. Allen, who had emailed the dean this weekend, urging him to acknowledge the criticisms raised about the blog entry. Dr. Allen said that the dean wrote back saying he would not, because “you and I just have different perspectives on things like this.”
Shortly after Dr. Allen’s opening comment, a vote was set up on the website’s homepage margin—the first to appear on the blog. Readers were asked, “Do you agree with Dr. Malcolm Allen’s comments concerning the UW Fox Dean’s recent blog posting?" At the end of the voting period, the final score was in:
118 Votes Total
83 Agree (70%)
8 Neutral (7%)
27 Disagree (23%)
Whoever put up the vote most likely expected that the voting would go the other way. The day after the voting closed, the results disappeared.
This is a story of a university administrator who wrongly assumed that his political posturing would be met with widespread approbation. We at NAS think that Dean Perry ought to respond publicly and forthrightly to a challenge that says, in effect, he abused his authority. That’s a discussion that could prove beneficial for the students of the University of Wisconsin, Fox Valley, who stand to learn something about the ambiguous realm where academic freedom becomes a cover for political advocacy. We’d like to think that the higher-ups in the University’s administration realize that Dean Perry was carried away in his political enthusiasm and went too far in turning a university website into his private soapbox—but so far, his administration has been silent.
The National Association of Scholars, of course, often deals with larger issues than a dean’s wayward appropriation of a blog to express his politics. But we also look out for any event that seems to exemplify larger trends. The trend in this case is the widespread assumption by college and university officials around the country that “everybody” is as enthusiastic for “social justice” and “sustainability” as they are. These terms connote liberal ideologies and the attempt to advance them by putting them at the center of higher education is a political act—no less so when it masquerades as the common sense of intellectuals and academics. It is heartening to see that in this case, the effort to promote this political agenda met some principled resistance, and even more heartening that when it was put to an informal vote, a large majority agreed that the dean was out of line.
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There are two other aspects to this in a public university - both relating to the First Amendment.
First, a blog like this, or the ability to send campus-wide email messages, constitutes a public forum. While the government (university) may restrict public forums to maintain order, it may only do so in a content-neutral manner. For example, the university can (and should) prohibit people from shouting out of dormitory windows at 3AM, but the restriction has to be neutral of the content - the offense is shouting *anything* out the window at 3AM when everyone else is asleep.
If the dean is going to have a blog where viewpoints are expressed -- even nonpolitical views along the lines of how the football team is doing well this year and everyone should go to the game on Saturday -- all other views on the topic have to be given equal access to the forum. So the musician who wants to encourage people to instead come to his concert, the soccer coach who thinks that football is an outdated game from an outdated age, the librarian who wants to complain about how the football team gets the money she wants for journal subscriptions, all of those views have to be given equal access to the forum.
The second point, which is in direct conflict with academic freedom as most know it, is that every employee of a public university is an agent of the state. Faculty members excercise authority granted by the state -- grading students. There are some due process and equal protection issues that could arise out of a governmental agent using the granted authority to impose political views on others. For example, a police officer could not stop motorists and make them listen to his views on the Iraq war, even if he had been there with his Guard unit. I don't think that a professor has any more right to make his students listen to his views on the Iraq war either.
So I may be coming to the same conclusion, but not for the same reason -- I don't care if administrators express their political views as long as they (a) do so in their personal and not professional capacity and (b) provide equal access to everyone else who wishes to express a view on the topic discussed. Using your "bully pulpit" to advocate your personal views is unConstitutional. And it goes without saying that using that position to retaliate against those whose views differ from your own is also unacceptable for a variety of reasons.
by Ed Posted on 02/12/2009
Obviously Dean Perry thinks he can tough it out, that all this will blow over and he won't be criticized more than he already has been. He certainly doesn't seem to anticipate any official questions or reprimand. The sad thing is that he may well be justified in his assumptions.
by ABC Posted on 02/12/2009
I was one of the people who posted on the site when it was up. Dean Perry is an effective leader for UWFox and it would foolish for this issue to have a negative effect on his reputation. It was a personal statement on a personal blog. The fact that Dr. Allen was able to publicly call Dean Perry on the political implications of his statement demonstrates that UWFox dialogue is an open one, and is not the problem some would make it out to be. Sure, Dr. Perry's statement was an expression of a personal political position, and it is likely that he wasn't even aware of the possibility of negative reception for those comments. That in itself does echo the sentiment that the university dialogue has been co-opted because progressives don't even feel the need to check their public speech.
I recently attended a conference of arts professionals. The initial group introduction by the conference organizer included a statement of relief about how "we were finally able to get the good guy in," with the assumption that this was more than obvious to everyone in the room, and the unstated implication that disagreement was tantamount to professional malpractice. So this stuff does go on quite a bit. And one wonders what the reaction from these same people would be if a conservative academic stood up and made the same kinds of statments. Thankfully, most conservative academics have been tested in fire and know better.
That said, I think Dean Perry's strategy of no comment is probably sufficient. I know the man personally. While he does hold progressive political views, he is far from an ideologue and as a conservative instructor, I never felt that his leadership targeted me in any way. He is a capable administrator and does not deserve to be tarred and feathered for an error in judgment. While his slip is a good example of a pervasive progressive academic smugness, it is nothing to get worked up over, and certainly not a call to battle.
by Terbreugghen Posted on 02/12/2009
With all respect to the previous poster, Dean Perry's blog was, is NOT personal. It was, is public, and written *ex officio.* Consider the obliviousness of Dean Perry's original comments, the "smugess" as Terbreugghen puts it. We all know what would have happened if--an impossibility--a conservative had made comments like this, or rather the opposite of this (an impossibility because a conservative would not have made dean without repeated self-betrayal). There would have been a firestorm.
Maybe Dean Perry is "an effective leader". But he needs now to admit to the mistake of the posting. And I don't want to be vindictive--well, I do but I'm restraining myself because I'm not an academic leftist and I have some self-respect-- but a few words of apology would not be amiss. When you blunder you apologize. Then, unless the other person is himself a bigot , you are forgiven. That's how civilized people behave.
by ABC Posted on 02/12/2009