It’s good to see the Alliance Defense Fund defend the free-speech rights of a professor with unorthodox views. “No university should refuse promotion to a gifted and accomplished professor simply because it disagrees with his religious and political views,” said ADF Senior Counsel Steven Aden in a press release.
Aden was referring to the situation of Mike Adams, a criminal justice professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington denied tenure, allegedly due to his opinions.
I want to point out what I think is an inappropriate use of language in an article about Adams that appeared in today’s Daily Tar Heel.
Apparently the “conservative beliefs” of Adams include a Christian faith, if I’m correctly reading this article in The Daily Tar Heel.
I’m not sure how “conservative beliefs” became the umbrella term under which Christianity resides. After all, we’re watching a political campaign in which Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton are trying to out-Christian each other, while Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, has created plenty of space for liberals and progressives to espouse evangelical faith. Certainly the Committee of Concerned Journalists and even Associated Press style guidelines would steer editors at The Daily Tar Heel away from blurring “conservative beliefs” and Christianity.
Now, back to the matter of diversity and free speech.
From The Daily Tar Heel article:
A UNC-Wilmington professor who claims to be a victim of discrimination for his conservative beliefs will speak at UNC-Chapel Hill today about promoting a diversity of ideas on university campuses.
Criminal justice professor Mike Adams has been battling UNC-W since last year, when he filed suit against the university for harassment and discrimination after a promotion refusal.
Adams says the refusal stems from prejudice toward his religious and political beliefs.
UNC-W’s motion to dismiss the suit was denied earlier this month.
The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal organization that handles issues of religious freedom, filed suit on behalf of Adams.
“Christian professors should not be discriminated against because of their beliefs,” stated ADF Senior Legal Counsel Steven Aden in a press release….
UNC-W officials declined to comment on the case because the lawsuit has not been resolved.
The ADF said it is defending Adams in an effort to protect the rights of professors who fall outside the perception of the typical liberal professor.
“The university is supposed to be the marketplace of ideas, and university officials should not treat religious or conservative professors as second-class citizens on campus,” stated ADF Senior Legal Counsel David French, director of the organization’s Center for Academic Freedom, in an earlier press release.
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