Editor,
Richard Berthold should be fired.
Not just for his serious misconduct on Sept. 11, but for every instance when he has insulted and offended students. If this had been his first offense, I might allow him to get away with just a tearful apology. However, Dr. Berthold has had a long history of moral misconduct at the University.
I agree that he has the freedom of speech, but when he repeatedly insults, offends, sexually harasses and embarrasses the University, he should be fired for misconduct.
An example of Dr. Berthold's "free speech" includes the first day of his History 101 class this fall semester when he told his students, "I have the freedom of speech and if it wasn't for tenure I'd have been fired a long time ago, so I'm going to say what I want and if you don't like it, fuck you." Is this the type of professor we want teaching at our University?
The hypocrisy and ignorance of the liberal "intellectuals" defending Dr. Berthold on this campus makes me sick.
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In January of 1999, David Howard, head of the Washington, D.C., Office of Public Advocate used the word "niggardly" while discussing budget issues. "Niggardly" is a real word, meaning stingy or scanty, its meaning has nothing to do with insulting blacks.
However, within days Howard was forced to publicly apologize and resign. The same type of ignorant liberals who fired David Howard are now showing their hypocrisy by justifying Dr. Berthold's actions over the years as his right to free speech.
The only reason liberals are taking Dr. Berthold's side is because they, like him, are anti-American. They are the type of scum who jump at the chance to have an employee of the federal government fired, like David Howard, but hide behind free speech when Dr. Berthold continuously shows total disrespect for students and commits severe misconduct.
If this is the type of protection you get by having tenure, then a professor with tenure must have the most job security in the world. Is there anything you can get fired for when you have tenure?
This is not an issue of free speech, but it's an issue of what is appropriate for the classroom and how long we will let a professor abuse his freedom of speech.
If President Gordon doesn't take a stand against this type of long-term misconduct, then we are in need of a new president.
Ryan D. Rice
UNM student
