Kansas University professor Paul Mirecki has hired an attorney and may sue KU and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Mirecki told the Journal World, “If I have to sue, I will,”
Mirecki is angry because KU didn’t back him after religious conservatives attacked him for his plan to teach a course dealing with intelligent design.
“The University penalized me and denied me my Constitutionally protected right to speak and express my mind,” he wrote in a statement prepared for the newspaper. “I’ve become radioactive and the University’s administrators won’t support me.”
Mirecki told the Journal World he was fired as department chairman because he had the “temerity to challenge the power of the religious right in Kansas and the university capitulated to demands of the conservative minority.”
Although it has been reported that Mirecki voluntarily stepped down from the departmental chairman position, he said he had no choice but to sign a resignation letter, which was typed on stationery from the office of Barbara Romzek, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Mirecki said his career was ruined and that “speaking engagements that I had lined up now have been canceled.”
“The University has a duty, as a protector of intellectual honesty and debate, to support its teaching staff when controversial issues are raised,” Mirecki said. “Now those on the right are emboldened and feel they can take this a step higher."
Chancellor Robert Hemenway said the university has supported Mirecki. "Professor Mirecki still has a job at the University of Kansas," Hemenway said. "That would appear to be support for his rights to his tenured position and his rights to free speech.... The university deplores the fact that he was apparently attacked. We've said so."
On Friday, Mirecki displayed two black eyes and a bruise on his arm that he said came from a beating administered early Monday by two unknown men who had followed him in a pickup truck as he drove to breakfast. He said his attackers mentioned the controversy.
He said he was not pleased with the sheriff’s investigation because he had been “treated more like a criminal than a victim.”
He said he was interviewed by officers several times, “once for five hours straight. They keep asking me the same things over and over. They seized my car; they entered my office and seized my computer. They said they need them for their investigation but it didn’t make any sense to me.”
Meanwhile, conservative Kansas legislators have called for what amounts to a witch hunt at KU.
Kay O'Connor, R-Olathe, quoted in the Johnson County Sun said the Legislature has a legitimate interest in making sure state money is spent appropriately. "Legitimate questions would be things like," she said, "Are the Regents universities allowing the teaching of intolerance of certain classes of people? Is this an isolated case of intolerance or are there other examples of this behavior?"
Sen. Karin Brownlee, R-Olathe, said she agreed with holding a hearing. "Certainly my colleagues are free to question those who receive tax dollars," Brownlee said. "This created quite a fire storm. When a situation like this arises, a professor will often say it is a matter of First Amendment rights and academic freedom. Sometimes those are taken too far. I don't think it's acceptable to mock others' belief systems and that is what (Mirecki) did.”
Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, vice chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said, "It's not about the class. It's about the actions of the professor. It's about KU's integrity. I never have a problem with the Legislature discussing a class so people can hear both sides…My major concern is that the head of the religion department at the university is probably in the wrong position.” She babbled on, "He is an atheist and he is bashing religion. Is he doing that in his class? I'm not knocking his religion. But how can he be the chair of the religion department? He has an obligation to be held to a higher standard. This is religious bigotry."
Landwehr is right about one thing. This all is religious bigotry. But the bigotry comes from her side. Right wing “Christians” have been trying to force their fundamentalist religious beliefs on the people of Kansas for too long now. When someone stands up to them, they cry foul and hide behind some bizarre banner of religious persecution. It’s a joke, though not a very funny one. Sources: Lawrence Journal World, Wichita Eagle, Johnson County Sun
What follows is a prophetic article from the Kansas City alternative newspaper The Pitch
Good Night, and Good God
As darkness descends over the state of Kansas ...
By C.J. Janovy
Published: Thursday, December 8, 2005
During the first week of December 2005, the Kansas battle over intelligent design escalated after the head of the Religious Studies Department at the University of Kansas posted scandalous e-mails on an Internet discussion board run by a student atheist group. Though he was a respected teacher and researcher, Professor Paul Mirecki was prone to writing unflattering things about Christians in his e-mails. Outraged, some Kansas lawmakers called for hearings to root out bias at the university. According to Rep. Brenda Landwehr, a Wichita Republican, "This may show a bigger problem than just Professor Mirecki."
MARCH 5, 2006, SENATE HEARING ROOM F, TOPEKA, KANSAS —
After spending two months searching for un-Christian activities in university departments, the legislature turns its gaze on nonfaculty employees.
Rep. Landwehr, chairwoman of the Kansas Committee on UnChristian Activities: Good morning. Would you state your name and job title, please?
Miss Wedgwood: Emma Wedgwood. I work in housekeeping.
Rep. Landwehr: Miss Wedgwood, are you now, or have you ever been, an atheist?
Miss Wedgwood: Well, I've never been all that comfortable talking about my religion in public, you know?
Rep. Landwehr: I'll get straight to the point, Miss Wedgwood. We have sworn statements here that you have been seen reading atheist literature at the university.
Miss Wedgwood: I'm not sure what you're talking about. I pick up trash in the hallways. I take down fliers from the bulletin boards, after they're out of date. Sometimes I look at them ...
Rep. Landwehr: Have you ever attended a meeting of the KU atheists?
Miss Wedgwood: I've never even heard of the KU atheists.
Rep. Landwehr: Do you go to church, Miss Wedgwood?
Miss Wedgwood: I haven't been to church since they caught the minister cheating on his taxes.
Rep. Landwehr: So you are an atheist.
Miss Wedgwood: I'm not saying that.
Rep. Landwehr: In your work in the housekeeping department, have you ever associated with any known atheists?
Miss Wedgwood: I just mop the floors. I'm a single mother with two boys to take care of. I just do my job.
Rep. Landwehr: I wouldn't be bragging about your divorce if I were you. You made your bed, and you'll lie in it. Back to what's going on at the university, though. I've had people tell me about professors who ridicule and intimidate students and make them feel embarrassed just because the student has a different viewpoint. Have you ever engaged in any discussions about Christians with other members of the housekeeping staff?
Miss Wedgwood: I don't really like talking about God with other people. I don't like it when they push God in your face and stuff.
Rep. Landwehr: So you admit that you've been guilty of fostering an atmosphere of intolerance toward Christians there in the housekeeping department.
Miss Wedgwood: I'm not rude about it. I just try to change the subject.
Rep. Landwehr: So you admit that you've infringed on Christians' right to free speech.
Miss Wedgwood: They still talk about it. I just walk away.
Rep. Landwehr: Are you aware, Miss Wedgwood, of how your actions toward these Christians might make them feel?
Miss Wedgwood: Excuse me?
Rep. Landwehr: Are you aware that your actions are a clear indication of intolerance and anti-Christian bias? I would venture a guess, Miss Wedgwood, that you're the type who disrespects and mocks the religious views of your co-workers by telling them "happy holidays" instead of wishing them a "merry Christmas."
Rep. Mary Pilcher Cook, Republican from Shawnee: Excuse me, madam chair, but I just have to say something to Miss Wedgwood.
This is not about the First Amendment or freedom of speech in the housekeeping department, Miss Wedgwood. This is about being accountable to the public and being responsible for one's actions. You know that the people of Kansas pay your salary, don't you?
Miss Wedgwood: It's not very much. I have to work a second job at the Stop-N-Go.
Rep. Cook: That's not the point. The point is, Kansas is a Christian state, and its taxpayers won't have state employees disrespecting religious people just because they speak up in the workplace. I know plenty of us here in the Legislature won't stand for the kind of religious intolerance people like you are practicing in the housekeeping department.
Sen. Kay O'Connor, Republican from Olathe: Here here. We're not in the taxpayer-funded hatred business. Why should taxpayers give you an opportunity to profess your hatred for Christians?
Sen. Karin Brownlee, Republican from Olathe: We have to set a standard that it's not culturally acceptable to mock Christianity in America.
Miss Wedgwood: But I didn't even say anything!
Sen. Brownlee: Well, you don't have to say anything, Miss Wedgwood. I can see it in your eyes. You, along with everyone else at the University of Kansas, are a threat our way of life. And I know that many of the people who are watching these hearings at home will agree with me. They're the people who pay your salary. They're your neighbors, Miss Wedgwood. You better watch yourself.
And go back to church.
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