Air Force E-mail Controversy
Kirstein initially gained notoriety in a nationally publicized academic freedom case when an e-mail surfaced revealing that he made vitriolic comments to a United States Air Force Academy cadet in late October 2002. His e-mail was in response to a cadet's e-mail request to promote an academic forum on "America's Challenges in an Unstable World: Balancing Security with Liberty" at the United States Air Force Academy. Kirstein refused to support the forum due to his opposition to war and "your aggressive baby killing tactics of collateral damage." Kirstein's e-mail also compared the cadet to the Washington snipers. The cadet, the Air Force Academy, St. Xavier University and Kirstein exchanged apologies.
As a result of these controversial events involving academic freedom and free speech, he was suspended from teaching at St. Xavier University with just three weeks remaining in the semester. He received a written reprimand that was expunged three years later from his file. While on sabbatical the following semester, he underwent an unscheduled post-tenure review. On October 27, 2012 at the American Association of University Professors Shared Governance Conference in Washington, DC, he presented a paper, "Ten Years On: The Kirstein Suspension Case, Shared Governance and Academic Freedom." He spoke Saturday, November 3 at North Park University on his case and its enduring relevance ten years after.
Read more about this topic: Peter N. Kirstein
Famous quotes containing the words air, force and/or controversy:
“As far as I can see, this autumn haze
That spreading in the evening air both ways
Makes the new moon look anything but new
And pours the elm-tree meadow full of blue,
Is all the smoke from one poor house alone....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“The mass believes that it has the right to impose and to give force of law to notions born in the café.”
—José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)
“Ours was a highly activist administration, with a lot of controversy involved ... but I’m not sure that it would be inconsistent with my own political nature to do it differently if I had it to do all over again.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)