Another Academic on Kenneth Howell

Fired for Being Catholic? reported on the troubles of Dr. Kenneth Howell, who lost  his adjunct job at the University of Illinois for admitting in a class on Catholic teaching that he, as a Catholic, agreed with it. A friend who teaches in a state university wrote:

Having read his e-mail, the reason for Dr. Howell’s situation has  become clearer: He taught the doctrines of the Church as being his as opposed to being those of the Church. This was the more honest thing to do, but, as Howell’s experience makes clear, it’s dangerous.

If the teacher teaches in a detached way, the student treats whatever he says abstractly. He might be mad, but he won’t be mad at him. Once the teacher says that these beliefs he’s describing are his personal beliefs, he becomes the focus, and it is much easier for a student to complain to an administrator about a  teacher than it is about what he is being taught, and it is easier for an administrator to defend the teaching of subject than it is the teacher of the subject. The facts are as they are, but the teacher can be changed.

My friend said that this story shows the importance of giving professors tenure, even though it can encourage laziness, poor teaching, and the like. Tenure would, he said, “have helped the administrator (if he wanted help) in this case.”

It is all about time. About the only tool or asset a university administrator has is time. The most important thing in listening to student complaints is that they leave the office convinced that they have been heard and paid attention to seriously. The goal for a lower-lever administrator (and I know them well) is to keep the complaint from going higher.

If the dean has to hear every complaint on their time, why do they need an assistant? If the provost hast to hear every complaint on his time, why do they need a dean? If you can tell the student there is nothing you can do “because X has tenure,” the student can reply “That’s just stupid” and walk out in a huff but he won’t go any higher. If  you say that you fully support the teacher on grounds of academic freedom, they are going to go higher. They will bug the dean, the provost, the president.

From the evidence I’ve seen, it looks like this was poorly handled by the administrator’s involved. As someone else pointed out,  you never listen to someone who is “speaking for a friend.” You always assume he is speaking for himself alone.

The press coverage associated with this should be a good incentive for any administrator to adopt that tactic. It’s bad when the student goes to the next level. It’s worse when the press picks up the story.