Editor,
My letter is a short response to Professor Richard Berthold's cowardly remark about the Pentagon bombing. Basically the professor is entitled to his point of view but his comment leads to a question about academic freedom.
While firing him could be considered an infringement or attack against free speech and academic freedom one needs to ask whether or not the academic freedom of the students who take his history courses is compromised
Proper teaching involves objectivity on the part of the professor. Is Professor Berthold being straight forward and objective in his teaching? It seems doubtful to me, which makes me question if the students aren't the ones having their freedom to learn being sacraficed for the professor's self centered point of view.
In this day and age of political correctness, shouldn't the professor be requried to head of to the indoctrination camps also known as sensitivity traing classes? Why give those with a left of center slant an free pass on this matter when any male professor who made a so called disparaging comment of a woman for instance would most likely be required to attend such a class.
UNM seems to be competing with the University of Berkeley for which can hate America the most. It is good, however, that this professor has been called to the floor and roundly criticized. Now, hopefully he will be treated for the remainder of his academic carrer as either the equivelant of a racist or an immature individual.
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He would be seen as one who deals in the world in abstractions, but never had to live in the real world of having a nine to five type job, family or friends who died in such a horrendous terrorist attack.
Tim Lynch
Daily Lobo reader
