Norman Finkelstein

National Catholic Reporter, August 31, 2007 by John T. Richardson

Your article on the tenure denial of Norman Finkelstein at DePaul University (NCR, June 22) missed an opportunity to explain how a Catholic university applies its basic values and due processes of justice to reach a decision critical to a faculty member's academic career and the university's integrity in promoting those values. With presumed accuracy, the article characterizes the tenure applicant as one who "excoriates those who oppose his research as fools, idiots and liars." DePaul would be false to its mission were it to disregard this public insult of academic colleagues, conduct directly opposed to its Vincentian values.

The article emphasizes the charge of violation of academic freedom and the "uproar" among faculty and students caused by this tenure denial. Most observers would consider the intense interest and clash of opposing views generated by this decision as a sign of a healthy academic environment that encourages debate, not an "uproar." Faculty with questionable qualifications for tenure often fred instinctive feelings of support for an underdog, particularly if the faculty member's views are controversial. In such instances the charge of violation of academic freedom is a red herring.

The acid test for judging the presence or absence of academic freedom rests in a due process that provides peer judgment of faculty, completely open and informed deliberation of the evidence for and against tenure. The faculty of the department of the applicant, persons in the best position to judge his academic qualifications, submitted their evidence and opinion. A university-wide faculty committee selected by the university's faculty council recommended that tenure be denied. The university president accepted this recommendation. The fundamental issue in this decision was whether the faculty member's public conduct is supportive or destructive of the Catholic and Vincentian values of this university.

(Fr.) JOHN T. RICHARDSON, CM

Nairobi, Kenya

[Fr. Richardson is emeritus president of DePaul University.]