Professor Fired from the University of Colorado!

[Riprorin]

Ward Churchill? No. Phil Mitchell.

His crimes? Being a conservative, acknowleding that he's an evangelical Christian, and using the book in "In His Steps" in his class.

Professor Mitchell won the 1998 of the prestigious SOAR award for being the teacher of the year, and is rated one of the top professors in the history department.

Professor Mitchell has never evaneglized in his classroom.

Fair or not?

University of Colorado: Seditionist 1, Christian 0

University of Colorado to dump Acclaimed Christian Professor

Christian Professor Loses Job

 

[glenn1]

You'll have to excuse me for not being particularly interested in the administrative/HR affairs of a university in a state 2000 miles away from me.

 

[SuperTool]

The shampoo guy?

 

[ciba]

Assuming these articles are factually correct, can someone explain to me again how the "left" isn't waging war on Christianity?

edit: Note the "assuming." I will reserve my final judgement until I hear what the university has to say about this.

 

[raildogg]

Originally posted by: ciba
Assuming these articles are factually correct, can someone explain to me again how the "left" isn't waging war on Christianity?

edit: Note the "assuming." I will reserve my final judgement until I hear what the university has to say about this.

They'll claim Christianity is waging a war against the US constitution and argue against the 10 Commandments. I could care less if they removed them, but the illiberals have been bashing christianty for quite some time now and they won't stop anytime soon.

Of course the Universities across America are full of anti-Christian, anti-US and anti-Israeli sentiment. Columbia university is notorious for having anti-Israel bias. Nothing wrong with that as long as you admit it. It's freedom of speech afterall, isn't it?

Or is it?

 

[Steeplerot]

He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

I dont know anything about the book in question. Could you expand on what is in the book that you dont like and how it is not suited for the class he teaches.

The charges are racism appear to be completely false, as he has adopted minority children.

 

[totalcommand]

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

He wasn't fired. His "contract was not renewed". Big, big, huge difference buddy. He's still going to teach the rest of the year, and he is not tenured.

I'll quote it for you

Recently, William Wei, director of the Sewall Academic Program, let Mitchell know that CU would not be renewing his contract after this year because "his teaching was not up to the department standards."

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~2748616,00.html

I'll withhold my judgement, however, till some major news site picks it up and not these opinionated conservative people.

 

[Riprorin]

From a CU message board:

"Along with Bill McCartney, he is one of the finest men I have ever
known. He is a great teacher and has the integrity that I wish I
could claim in my own life. He has four adopted kids; two African-
Americans and one child from India who was very sick when he adopted
him. After all that has happened at C.U. over the last two years,
Phil's firing is the biggest travesty of all."

Link

Family pic:

Phil Mitchell, Ph.D.

 

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: totalcommand

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

He's not tenured because he didn't want to be on a tenure tract.

His passion is to teach students.


O'REILLY: After 20 years, did you ever ask why you don't have tenure, why they didn't give you the protection they gave Ward Churchill?

MITCHELL: No, that was my choice. I chose to be an instructor level person at the University of Colorado because I love to teach and I love my students and I love being in the classroom, and, if you're an instructor, that's all you do, and so it's a choice.

 

[Steeplerot]

Whatever, let go next year same diffrence how about instead of getting fired he is "soon to be sh1tcanned" hows that :roll:
I swear your partisan hacks want to argue with me even if I agree this whole things looks prety iffy.

 

[totalcommand]

Originally posted by: Riprorin
From a CU message board:

"Along with Bill McCartney, he is one of the finest men I have ever
known. He is a great teacher and has the integrity that I wish I
could claim in my own life. He has four adopted kids; two African-
Americans and one child from India who was very sick when he adopted
him. After all that has happened at C.U. over the last two years,
Phil's firing is the biggest travesty of all."

Link

Family pic:

Phil Mitchell, Ph.D.

Whoop-de-do.
We have no idea who it is saying that, it could be his best friend.

Wait for an objective news story about this. He's not even being fired, I'm not sure what the big deal is.

 

[Rainsford]

Perhaps there is a real news site that I could find real information on this situation? Radical right opinion sites are not exactly my prefered source when I'm trying to form an opinion on something. Of course they tend to come in handy for those of us who want to form their opinions without the benefit of facts, insight or intelligence.

Interestingly enough, 2 minutes with Google revealed a whole host of information on the book mentioned in the article. Nothing I read suggested it was an appropriate text for a history class. In fact, given the topic of the book, one is left wondering what exactly this professor was trying to accomplish by making students read it. Remember the big thread about higher education a while ago? If I remember correctly, the thing a lot of you guys on the right were pissed about was how college professors supposedly introduced their own bias into subjects where it wasn't appropriate or relevant. This seems like as good an example as any, don't you think?

Stop being such a bunch of whiney babies. This guy was fired for displaying way too much off-topic bias into what should have been a non-biased class, not because he was a Christian. The liberal prof at CU that's got everyone in such a lather might have said some stupid stuff, but he said it outside of class and didn't make his students read an off-topic book about it. Remember, the big problem you guys have is unnecessary bias IN THE CLASSROOM. Please explain to me why what Mitchell did doesn't qualify?

 

[umbrella39]

Originally posted by: glenn1
You'll have to excuse me for not being particularly interested in the administrative/HR affairs of a university in a state 2000 miles away from me.

Amen, er uh, tru dat.

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: glenn1
You'll have to excuse me for not being particularly interested in the administrative/HR affairs of a university in a state 2000 miles away from me.

I second that -- why is this even news? Christ, people get fired every day. And this guy apparently hasn't even been fired in the first place. You gonna adjust your thread title now Rip, or are you just fanning the flames?

 

[Landroval]

It is common for untenured faculty to not have their contracts renewed, especially in the humanities. Were he tenured I would be surprised if this happened.

 

[Steeplerot]

The book is borderline evangelical cultist and quite dated with late 19th century hypocricy.
Still though this thing is still breaking it's way to convienent coming from the highly biased sites rip posted.
Just becasue you have minority adopted children doesent mean you are given a free pass at being a whacko cultist though. I rserve my judgement until more comes out on this.

 

[Riprorin]

Transcript of interview with Bill O'Reilly:

Will the Univ. of Colo. Fire an Evangelical Christian Professor?

 

[totalcommand]

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
Whatever, let go next year same diffrence how about instead of getting fired he is "soon to be sh1tcanned" hows that :roll:
I swear your partisan hacks want to argue with me even if I agree this whole things looks prety iffy.

He had a contract. He fulfilled it. He didn't live up to expectations. Contract was not renewed. This is not a firing. If it was, he would be gone by now.

Spare me your whining Steep. There's nothing partisan about my statement. Non-renewal of contract != Firing. Is that simple enough? Can you read conservatism or liberalism into that one?

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

I dont know anything about the book in question. Could you expand on what is in the book that you dont like and how it is not suited for the class he teaches.

The charges are racism appear to be completely false, as he has adopted minority children.

Some quick Googling reveals he teaches the following classes:

Spring 2005:

CAMW 2001: The American West

HIST 1015: U.S. History to 1865

HIST 1025: U.S. History since 1865

Hist 2215: Era of the American Revolution

SEWL 2020: Conversations on the American West

None of those seem to me to be an appropriate course for a book that says "What Would Jesus Do?" on the cover.

 

[Riprorin]

O'REILLY: Yes! But, I mean, 21 years is a long ? but what has happened recently for the ? has ? have things changed recently to put your job in danger?

MITCHELL: Probably a change of administration, but, also, there have been some complaints, a few complaints about some of the books that I use in the classroom, and I think that may have jeopardized my position at the university.

O'REILLY: Give me an example of one of the books.

MITCHELL: Well, one of the books I require to study 19th century Protestantism is "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon (search), written in 1897, and it is the best book I know of to reveal Protestant liberal values at the turn of the century. It's a wonderful book, and I use it for a couple of days in the class, and it is a book that a student protested.

O'REILLY: OK.

MITCHELL: But most of my students love the book.

Don't forget that Mitchell specializes in contemporary American social, religious and cultural history.

 

[Steeplerot]

Fine I retract my "firing" statement as I read more on this.....it does look like he was not tenured *still reading about it.*

 

[Steeplerot]

Originally posted by: Riprorin
O'REILLY: Yes! But, I mean, 21 years is a long ? but what has happened recently for the ? has ? have things changed recently to put your job in danger?

MITCHELL: Probably a change of administration, but, also, there have been some complaints, a few complaints about some of the books that I use in the classroom, and I think that may have jeopardized my position at the university.

O'REILLY: Give me an example of one of the books.

MITCHELL: Well, one of the books I require to study 19th century Protestantism is "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon (search), written in 1897, and it is the best book I know of to reveal Protestant liberal values at the turn of the century. It's a wonderful book, and I use it for a couple of days in the class, and it is a book that a student protested.

O'REILLY: OK.

MITCHELL: But most of my students love the book.

O'lielly is a joke rip get a clue. Not everyone "Loved his book" if someone complained and they made a motion to not renew his contract :roll:

 

[ciba]

Originally posted by: totalcommand
Spare me your whining Steep. There's nothing partisan about my statement. Non-renewal of contract != Firing. Is that simple enough?

So with this logic, telling an at-will employee not to show up tomorrow is also not a firing?

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Rainsford

Originally posted by: charrison

Originally posted by: Steeplerot
He got fired for teaching from a fictional cultist book...yeah...
There is more to this then your propaganda sites say and I have read that book...It's awful and full of contridictions and hypocricy.
Total fiction raving to evangelical whacko cultist types... but not surprising you are defending it.
Still, this is pretty much under the radar still and Iam keeping an eye on it, firing a prof. seems plain dumb regardless of his views.
I am sure there must be more breaking on this one. He was called a racist to his face by the administration so I am curious what could warrant such a harsh call-out of a faculity member (who allegedly has minority children)....quite disturbing.

I dont know anything about the book in question. Could you expand on what is in the book that you dont like and how it is not suited for the class he teaches.

The charges are racism appear to be completely false, as he has adopted minority children.

Some quick Googling reveals he teaches the following classes:

Spring 2005:

CAMW 2001: The American West

HIST 1015: U.S. History to 1865

HIST 1025: U.S. History since 1865

Hist 2215: Era of the American Revolution

SEWL 2020: Conversations on the American West

None of those seem to me to be an appropriate course for a book that says "What Would Jesus Do?" on the cover.

a book published in 1897 had "What Would Jesus Do?" on the cover?