Friday, August 17, 2007

Is There More To This Story?


The August 17, 2007 Inside Higher Education had this story that disturbed me, and makes me wonder if there's a bit more to what happened:
When Colorado Christian University notified Andrew Paquin, an assistant professor of global studies, that his contract would not be renewed, he knew that not being sufficiently guided by Christ wasn’t the problem. But it might have been that he wasn’t sufficiently capitalist.

“Throughout the process it became evident that the issue of capitalism, the use of a couple of different books were at the core” of President William L. Armstrong’s “discomfort” with him, Paquin said. Those included works by animal-rights ethicist Peter Singer and Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and The Left Doesn’t Get It. Once Paquin was notified that he couldn’t continue on as a professor, students, faculty and alumni started petitions and contacted The Rocky Mountain News, which broke the story this week and sparked a torrent of anger on the blogosphere.
I read the August 13, 2007 Rocky Mountain News story as well, looking for some indication that there's more to the story, but what I found sounds disturbingly like Colorado Christian University is a mirror image of many of the top tier secular universities:
Armstrong fired Paquin from a position teaching global studies at the end of the spring semester amid concerns that his lessons were too radical and undermined the school's commitment to the free enterprise system.
Paquin assigned works by Jim Wallis, who writes from the Christian left, and Peter Singer, an atheist and animal rights activist.
Armstrong won't discuss Paquin's case specifically, but he says free enterprise is fundamental to the school's philosophy.
"I don't think there is another system that is more consistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ," Armstrong said.
That doesn't mean socialists can't be good Christians, and a belief in free enterprise is not linked to salvation, Armstrong added.
But free enterprise is the message of Colorado Christian, he said. "What the university stands for, among other things, is free markets."
Now, I agree that a school can have a particular focus or purpose. There certainly comes a moment when a university can decide, "Our charter is to promote X; you are actively denigrating X; find somewhere else to work." But at least the way that this is described in these two accounts, it sounds like Paquin was simply trying to make sure that students understood all sides. Indeed, that's what Paquin said in the Rocky Mountain News article:
Paquin said he assigned books from various viewpoints to challenge students with ideas they had not encountered before.
"I wanted my left-leaning, my right-leaning, my centrist, radical — whatever — students to at least give ear and respect to perspectives other than their own," he said.
I'm very skeptical that there are many students who make it to college who haven't been incessantly exposed to the leftist critique of capitalism. (Maybe the homes without televisions.) If Paquin was presenting only one side, that might be a valid basis for his dismissal. (Or for tenure at a public university.)

I would love to hear more about the basis for Paquin's dismissal. Right now, it doesn't sound good for CCU.

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