To the editor:
“This is Higher Education, Right should really matter.” (paraphrase) Lorretta Breuning,
I concur with Dr Bruening. I earned my undergraduate degree at the Air Force Academy. I did not fully appreciate the value of our honor code: “We will not lie, cheat, or steal, nor tolerate any among us any who do” until I returned as a faculty member and later moved on to a post-retirement career at a small liberal arts college. As Dr Bruening suggests, lowered standards of integrity diminish the quality of education of our students receive. Even more distressing is faculty members acquiescence and collusion in the demise of these critically important academic standards. But can one blame the faculty given the example set by college administrators?
The abandonment of these standards of integrity by college administrators is deeply distressing. Title IX proceedings are rife with pertinent examples. Several years ago, a colleague was charged with discrimination in selection and promotion, retaliation, and creating a hostile environment in a lengthy and rambling grievance signed by three junior faculty members. Nearly all the charges were found not to be violations or not to be supported by available evidence. In fact, some of the charges were found to be demonstrably and objectively untrue or gross exaggerations.
The three violations out of dozens alleged deemed to be violations resulted in my colleagues’ removal as department chair and banishment to the basement of our academic building. The false charges and claims? …crickets. Despite clear language in our Faculty Manual warning against making false claims or testimony, no action was taken to address any of these obvious violations. Clearly this was not a level playing field; the minions of the Woke are immune to the consequences of demonstrable dishonesty.
One might think an administration would be willing to consider evidence of such injustice. One would be sadly mistaken: https://www.nas.org/blogs/
Respectfully,
Dave Porter, DPhil
Professor in Exile
