Marquette Paid PR Firm Big Bucks to Counter Negative Publicity Over Attempt to Fire Warrior Blogger

We recently got an e-mail from an academic outlining an exchange he had with a public relations firm hired by Marquette to deal with the negative fallout from the university’s attempt to fire us. He explained:

FYI - see below. I received a very odd email from Marquette’s PR firm re: your case a few months ago. I had forgotten about it, but was reminded when I saw the recent court ruling. Anyway, I’m not sure why they contacted me, but thought you should know.

continue at Marquette Warrior

Really, go read this post.  This gives alumni an idea of how the administration will spend upwards of a million dollars to slander their own professors. 

!! Wisconsin Supreme Court sides with Marquette professor John McAdams in free speech case, orders university to reinstate him

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that embattled Marquette University political science professor John McAdams was improperly suspended after he publicly criticized a graduate student by name on his politically conservative blog, leading to threats against her.

The court ordered the Jesuit university to immediately reinstate the professor and sent the case back to a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge to award damages, including back pay.

McAdams has been suspended without pay for the past seven semesters.

"The undisputed facts show that the University breached its contract with Dr. McAdams when it suspended him for engaging in activity protected by the contract's guarantee of academic freedom," said the opinion written by Justice Daniel Kelly.

The state's high court ordered Marquette to "immediately reinstate Dr. McAdams with unimpaired rank, tenure, compensation, and benefits."

continue at JS

We all owe McAdams a debt of gratitude.  Had he not been willing to suffer through this whole thing, anyone not compliant with the latest liberal hysteria would have to continually suffer through another incoherent round of career punishment and virtue signaling. 

I think Lovell deep down probably knew Marquette would lose the case, but at least he showed he's willing to punish the politically incorrect.  Will it change a rotten culture at Marquette?  Unlikely, but it can't hurt.  Hopefully this decision will help protect other professors whom are attacked for their political or religious beliefs. 

Scapegoat: Marquette Student Expelled Over Gag Photo in Racial Hysteria

Given recent headlines, one would think that the Ku Klux Klan was running wild at Marquette. The Channel 12 website said:

MILWAUKEE — A disturbing and racially charged photo posted on Snapchat has some students on Marquette University’s campus upset.

“As a black student on this campus, I’m ashamed of what happened. It’s not right,” said Richard Nwabuzor, the vice president of the campus chapter of the NAACP.

[Deija] Richards said a lot of students in the black campus community don’t feel safe.

“I felt personally attacked, and I know a lot of people around me did,” she added.

continue at Marquette Warrior

The Wisconsin Supreme Court will issue their decision in McAdams v. Marquette on Friday morning

BREAKING: The Wisconsin Supreme Court will issue their decision in McAdams v. Marquette on Friday morning. #SCOWIS #FreeSpeech pic.twitter.com/IC0fn41gwx

— WILL (@WILawLiberty) July 3, 2018

Grab your popcorn!

Newspapers compelled to offer corrections after Marquette offers erroneous information in McAdams case

It just appeared on the Washington Times website (and many other places, doubtless): a story about our suit against Marquette University from the Associated Press.

As has happened before, the reporter (Ivan Moreno) appears to have accepted at face value claims made by Marquette, and pretty much blown off statements from our lawyer (Rick Esenberg) whom Moreno talked to, but apparently paid little attention to.

...

In fact, Abbate received no threats, as she admitted on her personal blog.  [Whoops!]

full post at Marquette Warrior

In humiliating fashion, Marquette University defends hosting "Pride Prom"

Two of the most dodgy words in contemporary religious discourse are “fundamentalism” and “dialogue”. They don’t mean what they seem to mean; in fact, they are often used as a way to gain power.

To explain what I mean, consider that Marquette University, a Jesuit university, is holding a “Pride Prom” this weekend. When some outside the university angrily questioned what a Catholic university is doing sponsoring an LGBT dance, a university spokesman responded:

continue at The American Conservative

Can you imagine having to embrace this soft nihilism and come up with statements like this?   And then they feel so strongly about it, they refuse requests for interviews on the topic. LOL! 

There's a whole lot of room for a faithful Catholic university in the upper midwest.  If you build it, they will come. 

Briefs filed for arguments in McAdams case

As the Wisconsin Supreme Court prepares to hear oral arguments in former Marquette professor John McAdams’ appeal against the university, amicus briefs defending both sides have begun to stack up.

The case has received attention since its beginning in 2014. Its recognition has continued due to the significant number of amicus, or “friend of the court,” briefs being filed by various groups and individuals in support of either McAdams or the university.

In 2014, McAdams was suspended from his teaching position after naming a graduate student instructor in a blog post who had not allowed a student to discuss his same-sex marriage view in class. McAdams filed a suit against Marquette claiming that the university violated the academic freedom clause in his contract.

continue at Marquette Wire

John McAdams case against Marquette University over academic freedom goes to Wis Supreme Court

Professor John McAdams’ lawsuit to get his job back at Marquette University got a boost Monday when the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.

“We are pleased that the state Supreme Court has agreed to hear our case on behalf of John McAdams,” said Rick Esenberg, President and General Counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL). “It is very important to have clarification on this important issue and I’m glad that John will have his day in court sooner than later.”

Esenberg and WILL said they asked the court to take the case because, “there is no binding precedent on the question of how far academic freedom extends.”

“A ruling from the court will also provide a standard for the rights of professors at UW System schools and private universities and colleges that also promise their faculty academic freedom,” according to a WILL press release.

continue at Right Wisconsin

Big news!

Marquette University sponsors Gay "Pride Prom 2018"

MILWAUKEE (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Catholic university in Wisconsin has divulged it will sponsor a gay dance in the spring.

Earlier this month, Marquette University announced it will host "Pride Prom 2018" next April.

According to the Jesuit school's LGBTQ+ Resource Center, the event will take place inside the Alumni Memorial Union (AMU). The AMU houses the Chapel of the Holy Family, where Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist is present.

Marquette's announcement has scandalized orthodox Catholics, who are responding with a petition for the event to be canceled. The petition effort is led by TFP Student Action, a national network of Catholic university students and parents, fighting to promote traditional moral values on college campuses.

continue at Church Militant

Lower court judge rules against John McAdams in Marquette academic freedom case

May 4, 2017 – Milwaukee, WI – In a 33-page ruling today, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Hansher found that Marquette University had the legal right to terminate tenured political science professor, Dr. John McAdams. The judge treated the Marquette committee that sat in judgment of McAdams as the equivalent of a neutral, third-party arbitrator, adopting its reasoning and conclusions wholesale.  [Bizarre considering there's absolutely no way they could reasonably be considered such, and the whole point the case is in court is so the court can provide third-party arbitration]  McAdams has already vowed to appeal the ruling.

WILL full statement

also JS

#FightThePower

Marquette University endorses, buses in students for Communist Angela Davis talk

I also asked @MarquetteU spox to point to a conservative activist that the campus had sponsored (not student orgs) no response yet

— Ethan Hollenberger (@EHollenberger) March 30, 2017

Ethan Hollenberger, at the event and tweeting about it notes that President Lovell called Davis an “awesome example.” This about a woman who is a self proclaimed Communist, and who bought guns for her fellow black militants in a plot that led to the killing of several innocent people.

When Ben Shapiro was at Marquette, the university required the reading of a disclaimer that noted that Shapiro’s views were not necessarily the views of Marquette University.

No such disclaimer was read at the Davis event.

Davis discussed a mural of FBI most wanted terrorist Assata Shakur, which decorated the wall of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center at Marquette, until we reported it, and an embarrassed Marquette administration had it painted over.

details at Marquette Warrior

.@MarquetteU literally bused students from Illinois to the Davis speech. This is an NIU bus. @yaf pic.twitter.com/QeOLL4vcOW

— Ethan Hollenberger (@EHollenberger) March 30, 2017

JS: Lawyers argue suspended McAdams suit against Marquette

The attorney for a suspended Marquette University professor argued Thursday that dismissing his lawsuit against the university would mean academic freedom is illusory.

"Whatever the limits of academic freedom are, they haven't been transgressed here," said Rick Esenberg, whose conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty represents John McAdams.

Last year, McAdams sued Marquette, claiming his two-semester suspension without pay for critically blogging about a graduate instructor in another department was a breach of his contract. After the 2014 post got traction on social media, people flooded the instructor with profane, offensive, threatening messages. She later transferred to another university.

On Thursday, attorneys for both sides were arguing the respective motions to be granted summary judgments in their favor before trial. The 90-minute session drew a packed gallery of spectators.

continue at JS

I wonder how much Marquette has spent on legal fees thus far....  $500k?  $1Mil??  More???  The case has been going on for two years now.  Maybe this was how they expected to punish McAdams all along, even if they knew they would likely lose in court at least they could drag him through the mud for a couple years anyway.

When McAdams wins, it would be fitting that Lovell has to issue him a public apology.

Watchdog: As classes begin at Marquette University, McAdams’ liberty lawsuit plods along

John McAdams’ academic freedom fight has now entered the discovery stage.

The Marquette University political science professor remains suspended without pay after refusing to apologize for the “transgression” of free speech.

Meanwhile, McAdams’ lawsuit alleging breach of contract and that the university violated his right to academic freedom drags on, headed for a Feb. 2 court date.

“We are in discovery right now. They have demanded a lot of stuff from me, including a lot of old emails,” McAdams told Wisconsin Watchdog on the Jay Weber Show, on NewsTalk 1130 WISN.

“We are asking for summary judgment, asking the judge to say Marquette was wrong and McAdams was right. If that happens, that will leave open the issue of how much of a settlement or judgment I get,” he said. “There would be a jury trial in mid-June to decide how much money I get. Marquette could settle rather than allowing it to go to trial.”

continue at Wisconsin Watchdog (posted a month ago, I am behind)

Are Universities Sidestepping Faculty Due Process in Response to Social Media Crises?

In the social media age, one bad viral incident can outweigh an entire career. Across the country, a series of professor and faculty firings paint a troubling portrait of the way university administrators and trustees view the tradeoffs between employee due process and shielding their institution from the public relations hits that come with high-profile viral incidents.

Linda Katehi, chancellor of the University of California at Davis was removed from her position last month following allegations that she hired an Internet consulting firm to help scrub and minimize web postings about an infamous pepper spray incident at the university. In March, Sujit Choudhry, dean of UC Berkeley’s law school, was placed on indefinite leave and eventually resigned after details of a sexual harassment lawsuit became public. Melissa Click, former associate professor at the University of Missouri, was fired after being captured on video calling for “muscle” to forcibly remove student journalists from filming protestors. John McAdams, a political science professor at Marquette University, was suspended without pay in 2014 for writing a post on his personal blog criticizing a fellow Marquette teaching assistant caught on tape telling a student that opposition to same-sex marriage was not permitted in her classroom. McAdams contends he has been fired, but the university has stated he remains under suspension throughout the 2016 fall semester.

While each case has its own wrinkles, these incidents all follow a common trend: the faculty members in question were all fired or suspended after their alleged transgressions “went viral” and captured the attention of the outside world. Another commonality is that many of the fired are accusing university administrators of ignoring or sidestepping established faculty due process procedures in order to speed up the termination process or avoid further negative public relations. Choudhry and McAdams are suing their former employers for denying them due process, while Click has stated her intention to do the same. Choudhry filed an official grievance in April with the UC Privilege and Tenure Committee over his dismissal.

continue at Good Call

JS: Suspended professor John McAdams sues Marquette University

Fr. Wild and Michael Lovell

Marquette University associate professor John McAdams and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty filed a lawsuit Monday against Marquette over the professor's suspension stemming from his public criticism of a teaching assistant.

According to a news release, the lawsuit against Marquette is for "illegally suspending" McAdams and "making the decision to terminate his tenure and fire him from Marquette."

The lawsuit, filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, accuses Marquette of breach of contract.

"We welcome this issue being addressed in court, where the public will hear a comprehensive account of Dr. McAdams' mistreatment of our former graduate student, rather than the select details he has handpicked to promote his false narrative," Marquette said in a statement. "Once all the facts are made clear, Marquette fully expects that the decision to suspend him will be upheld."
...
When asked if there was a dollar figure for which he[McAdams] would walk away, he said "no."

continue at JS

I've read lots of what Marquette has published on its website, and it's suitable for PR, but I just don't see any way something that fluffy can stand in court.  His supposed crime is "publicly shaming," which is apparently how they describe McAdams blogging that a grad student was "using a tactic typical among liberals."  It hardly seems like a shaming.

Related: Letter to Lovell: Gay Marriage Can Be Discussed where McAdams succinctly puts it:

In fact, it is perfectly plausible that a large state university might be more open to a discussion of diverse ideas about sexuality than the nominally Catholic Marquette, just as places like the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Texas A & M have more vital Catholic ministries than does Marquette.

There is a particular type of parochialism that afflicts the secularized “Catholic” institutions, but it it not Catholic parochialism. It’s the parochialism that believes it has right to enforce an orthodoxy by authoritarian top-down means. But it’s not a Catholic orthodoxy being enforced, but rather secular political correctness.

Want to help?

Will you join us in defending Marquette Professor John McAdams and free speech on America’s campuses?

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

More on Marquette's McAdams academic freedom case

John McAdams appeared on three radio shows to discuss Marquette’s attempt to fire him.

It was largely eclipsed by March Madness, and the fact that it was revealed on the day before Good Friday (and too late in the day to make the 5:00 p.m. news), something that was doubtless intentional on Marquette’s part. But the punishment the university wants to mete out to this blogger did get some media attention. Here is a short list of a few of the articles, and the “money quote” from each of them.

continue at Marquette Warrior

I found it striking that Lovell made this announcement right before Easter weekend, knowing it to be the best time maybe all year to bury a news story.  As Terry posted last week, Marquette is requiring an "apology" for McAdams to avoid Marquette moving for termination.  Lovell has made now multiple procedural failures, including a bizarre review process that somehow took SIXTEEN months to complete.  Lovell also refused to take the committee's recommendation that he waited all this time for, only to implement his own (the distinction being the committee did not require an "apology").

It seems clear Lovell is desperate to make sure McAdams is removed by any means necessary.  He probably hoped that not paying him for a year and a half would do it as he hid in a bunker.  McAdams didn't give, and Lovell will likely now have to sweat out a lawsuit which most liberals in America disagree with him on.  Lovell has been able to hide the process thus far because it is a personnel matter, but in the courtroom it will be fair game.  This double standard in McAdams case seems poised to blow up in the face of Marquette.  If Lovell will be required to take the fall at the point a large settlement is cashed out has yet to be seen - certainly not the way he had pictured his Marquette tenure beginning.

What I also find strange is that if I was running point for Marquette, the number one goal for the whole thing would be that this plays out as a "Marquette beefs up bullying protection, while respecting free speech rights."  Marquette apparently feels it's lack of policy is a strength and that whatever "Jesuit values" are is best left undefined.  Ineffective policy leads to autocratic rule.  Students and teachers should have rights that the administration respects, and disagreeing on topics need not descend in sixteen month penitential rites.  It certainly would not work in the business world, but maybe academia on Wisconsin Avenue is too big to fail.

Photo

Pres Lovell prepared to make decision on McAdams academic freedom case at Marquette

@mutribune @PresLovell to make a decision re: John McAdams @badgercatholic pic.twitter.com/Pv0pTYNVFC

— Chris Kerzich (@ChrisKerzich) February 5, 2016

I did not see this online on the Marquette Trib, apparently just in print edition?

A decision report regarding tenured political science professor John McAdam’s status at Marquette University was recently sent to University President Michael Lovell.

A Faculty Hearing Committee previously assembled to generate the report to determine if McAdams should be terminated after his role ina widely-publicized controversy.

Bruce Boyden, associate law professor and chair of the committee, confirmed that the report is finished and under Lovell’s consideration. That information was also announced at a University Academic Senate meeting last week.

Lovell will use the report to decide if McAdams will be terminated or continue working at Marquette. The report is not public due to academic statues, but Boyden said it should be available when Lovell makes his final decision.

Cheryl Maranto, the College of Business Administration’s Department of Management chair and University Academic Senate member, said Lovell didn’t provide a timeline that he’ll follow for making his decision.

continue at Marquette Wire

HT Chris

Can Opposing Same-Sex Marriage Get You Fired at Marquette University?

MADISON, Wis.—John McAdams remains in professional limbo at his Jesuit school.

The long-time Marquette University political science professor at the center of one of the most controversial academic freedom cases in higher education continues to wait for a faculty hearing committee’s decision on his professional fate.

Marquette has said it intends to fire McAdams because of his blog post a little over a year ago criticizing a student teacher for prohibiting a philosophy student from sharing his opposition to same-sex marriage in the class.

The faculty committee, which held a hearing into the matter in September, has 90 days to make its recommendation on whether McAdams should stay or go.

“If they say Marquette shouldn’t fire me, it will be hard for Marquette to fire me, although they may try to anyway,” McAdams told Wisconsin Watchdog this week on the Vicki McKenna Show, on Newstalk 1310 WIBA. “If they say Marquette can fire me, it will be easier for Marquette, although not terribly easy because, No. 1, that would create a huge amount of bad publicity for Marquette and, No. 2, they have essentially been promised a lawsuit from my lawyers.”

continue at The Daily Signal

HT CatholicVote

John McAdams may sue Marquette after this week’s Faculty Hearing Committee meetings

There will be Faculty Hearing Committee meetings from Monday to Thursday this week to determine if associate political science professor John McAdams will be allowed to continue working at Marquette after his role in a widely publicized controversy between a student and teaching assistant.

“If the committee comes down against me, Marquette will surely fire me and then, of course, a lawsuit will follow,” McAdams told Wisconsin Watchdog on the Jay Weber Show, on News/Talk 1130 WISN.

Here is a timeline of events leading to this week’s faculty hearing committee meetings: 

Marquette starts removing McAdams – Feb. 4, 2015

McAdams announced on his blog that Marquette started the process to revoke his tenure and dismiss him from faculty.

McAdams had the option to object to the university’s decision, which he did. That resulted in this week’s Faculty Hearing Committee Meetings.

“In real universities, administrators understand, or more likely grudgingly accept, that faculty will say controversial things, will criticize them and each other, and that people will complain about it,” McAdams said on his blog. “That sort of university is becoming rarer and rarer. Based on Holz’ actions, Marquette is certainly not such a place.”

full article at Marquette Wire