McAdams response to Michael Lovell in Marquette academic freedom case; Nope

Today, Professor John McAdams sent a response to Marquette President Michael Lovell’s demand that McAdams admit that his actions were reckless and incompatible with Marquette’s mission and values – or be fired. McAdams is refusing to compromise his principles by admitting something he believes to be wrong.

McAdams’ letter today rejects President Lovell’s demands. It states that McAdams believes his actions have always been consistent with Marquette’s values – in fact, he was protecting them by standing up for the undergraduate’s right to free academic discourse. It expresses regret that Abbate received such hateful emails, but denies that he was reckless or somehow responsible for others’ actions - academic freedom means nothing if a professor can be punished for the actions of third parties. It also highlights that the Faculty Hearing Committee concluded that Marquette violated the Faculty Statutes when it summarily suspended him and banned him from campus.  [!!] Finally, the letter points out that Lovell’s demand that McAdams pen a mea culpa or be fired is itself a violation of the Faculty Statutes.

The full text of McAdams’ letter is available here.

Marquette Warrior

Also: 

Fox6

Campus Reform

Breitbart

Watchdog

Dr. Lovell apparently just sent out an all university email linking to a post he wrote about the latest chapter in the Dr. John McAdams saga. Our reaction to it can be read here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=607356432748370&id=356212237862792

In brief, this is conclusive evidence that Dr. Lovell is utterly incompetent regarding this issue and what it is actually all about - academic freedom at American universities -- let alone Catholic universities-- in the 21st century.

We seriously wonder if Dr. McAdams will not have grounds for a libel suit now that this bizarre, poorly written attempt at character assassination has been made public.

Gasoline on the fire? Marquette President Dr. Michael Lovell has just posted the most self-righteous, condescending,...
Posted by The Louis Joliet Society on Friday, April 1, 2016