Princeton University
Photo: Seth Wenig / Associated Press
Everyone knows that American universities are dangerous places these days if you dare to express unpopular views. But Princeton University’s attitude toward classic professor Joshua Katz is still shocking with its procedural double risk.
This week brought grim news about Joshua Katz, a classic professor who sparked anger on campus in 2020 after criticizing a faculty letter about racial relations. The newspaper reported on Thursday that Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber had asked university trustees to fire Mr Katz, who is in office. The formal complaint is a procedural charge based on Mr. Katz’s alleged failure to comply with an investigation into his relationship with a student.
Princeton found in 2018 that the professor had sex by mutual consent with a female student more than a decade earlier. Mr. Katz was removed for one year without pay. However, the university has launched a new investigation into his behavior after Mr Katz publicly criticized a faculty letter about racial relations in 2020.
His colleagues decided a second time that Mr Katz had not been completely honest in the first investigation and concluded that he could be punished again. The dean of the faculty insisted that Mr. Katz’s policy was “unrelated to the case.” And if you believe that, you lived in a cave off campus.
However, Mr Eisgruber argued that the proposed dismissal had nothing to do with political speech.
Mr Katz was targeted as he criticized a statement signed by hundreds of his colleagues calling for radical changes in Princeton’s race and employment policy. In the weeks following the assassination of George Floyd, faculty members sought specific concessions for non-white professors, including “course and summer salary relief.”
Mr Katz responded by upholding the principle that all races should be treated equally. He suggested that progressive advocacy groups had worsened the intellectual climate on campus, and called the Black Justice League a “small local terrorist organization”, saying it had intimidated students.
Mr Eisgruber condemned Mr Katz “personally and strongly” for such language. But Mr Katz wrote an article on those pages while the controversy raged, declaring that “the administration is not investigating me”. He even praised Princeton for advocating for free speech.
He underestimated the determination of his critics to clear their voice. That same week, as Princeton’s trustees discussed Mr Katz’s fate, they praised Mr Eisgruber for his “outspoken defense of freedom of expression”. The world already knows how hollow these words are.
Wonderland: When progressive people start using phrases such as misinformation management and gender abuse, one hopes not to be shocked that some people think they are euphemized in silence. Images: Getty Images / Bettman Composite: Mark Kelly
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