Tenure is not immunity… [Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist James Tracy’s] harassment of the parents of murdered children was vulgar, repulsive and an insult to the academic profession. Faculty concerned about the status of tenure should, in fact, be relieved that [Florida Atlantic University] began termination procedures… While there are real reasons to protect tenure for academic research, Tracy’s ‘scholarship’ makes a mockery of what academics do. His termination both holds Tracy accountable for his despicable behavior and reduces pressure on elected officials to end tenure.
December 18th, 2015 at 6:33PM
Conspiracy theories and their promoters have me thinking of that quip about porno that, I think, a Supreme Court Justice made. I’m not sure I can define it, but I know it when I see it.
December 21st, 2015 at 5:00PM
Justice Potter Stewart.
December 25th, 2015 at 7:18PM
Thanks. Wikipedia has some interesting reading under “conspiracy theory”.
I don’t know beans about Prof. Tracy, but I’d think if you had a novel explanation for a public event where the conventional explanation seemed okay, you’d want to tread carefully, with some sense of decency.