It’s a perennial problem, most significant at our weaker colleges and universities, and one UD has covered for years. How does a school hire, let alone retain, let alone tenure, a dolt-maniac whose convictions – often shared in the classroom – are extraordinarily stupid as well as morally vile?
From the lot of them, UD looks back most vividly on Florida Atlantic University’s James Tracy (though Ward Churchill will always be a favorite with many), who decided that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, and that he was therefore free to harass the parents of the dead children for having taken part in it.
The answer to how a university could tenure an ostentatious degenerate is simple: Doesn’t care, doesn’t know, doesn’t read, doesn’t review, doesn’t. Mark of a bad school. No idea who the hell is teaching classes, and big deal.
Even worse: William Paterson University has known for decades about Mad Dog Magarelli (the moon landing was a hoax; the Germans not only didn’t kill Jews but saved many of their lives, etc.) and done virtually nothing.
It took an 18-year-old freshman to get things going on the guy. Recognizing both that he was a kook and that her university refused to do anything about him, she simply kept her head down, stayed in the course, videotaped him, and made the videos public. The resulting attention has embarrassed the university.
I guess. Maybe they’re beyond embarrassment and really truly forever do not care.
In which case, there’s only one thing to say. Let the buyer beware.