Richard J Peltz, a law professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, is suing two students in the school's Black Law Student Association, the association itself and one other person affiliated with the group. Peltz is alleging defamation after several of his pupils took to the law school's dean and demanded Peltz face punishment for his so-called "hateful and inciting speech" regarding affirmative action.
According to a memo sent to the dean, Peltz is accused of "ranting" about affirmative action; saying affirmative action helps "unqualified black people"; passing out a form on which he asked students to specify their race, claiming their answers would affect their grades; and "denigrating" black students in a debate about affirmative action. The memo then asked that the dean publicly reprimand Peltz, bar him from teaching any course black students would be required to take and to mark on Peltz's personnel file that he is "unable to deal fairly with black students."
Peltz denies the allegations of prejudice and notes he passed out the form saying grades would be based on race in order to stimulate discussion, a discussion in which he says he argued in favor of affirmative action.
While the lawsuit works its way through the justice system, Peltz has been removed as professor from all required courses.
Jonathan Knight, who handles academic freedom and governance issues for the American Association of University Professors, is worried about the ramifications of this case, as he should be: "When you ask a court to become involved in making judgments about the metes and bounds of free expression on campus, it can be dangerous."
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Two things are clear here: his experiment was a bad idea though it's not the first I've heard of such a thing and it would be much easier to believe him if he had hair. And eye brows.
As for him not being able to teach classes that are mandatory for black students, it's not the brightest idea ever. If he argued against affirmative action in the right context (i.e. a class with affirmative action as a topic), which he says he didn't, I don't see a problem with it. Every student there should be able to argue both sides. The "unqualified" bit and ranting is not acceptable.
If anyone cared to look into Affirmative Action, it isn't solely for black people. It is for any minority (gender, ethnicity, etc) and the greatest minority group who benefits from it are white women.
This is hardly the first time a professor said or did something incredibly controversial. Why wasn't the dean able to deal with him again? Why did a court have to weigh in?
His lack of eyebrows terrify me more than his alleged words.
@JM, because the professor is suing the two students and the BLSA, who I am assuming sent the letter to the dean. So the professor brought the courts into it.
Summer,
that is what trips me out- he is suing NOT the students - unless I missed something!
Why isn't he fired altogether? He seems very under-served intellectually. Must be someone in the administration there, who likes him.
I might be able to weigh in on this a little. I'm a student at the law school. He's not being fired because he has tenure. Plus, he's very highly educated and is the preeminent authority on the First Amendment in the state.
He is suing two students, the organization, and a lawyer here in Little Rock from what I've gathered.
One of the students he is suing has a bad reputation around here. She's fairly opinionated and aggressive from what I've observed. Maybe he shouldn't have sued, but she probably should have realized that she was saying a little too much. He may have been out of line (I wasn't there), but it's not the smartest idea to go around crying "racist" about a guy like this. He'll probably sue you for it.
Anyway, we're all interested to see how it pans out. I'm taking a class from him next semester. I'll have a more educated opinion of him by the time that's over.
Is there any evidence that he did the things he is accused of? Even if he did, I don't know if it makes him racist. Being strongly critical of affirmative action just means he opposes the policy. Even if he did ask students to specify race on an exercise, that could be explained. Does anyone really know what he was doing in class?
We got ahold of a copy of the complaint and answer at school. I never read it personally. From what my friend tells me (he read it, he's also reliable) he was critical of affirmative action in class. This was a Constitutional Law class. He criticized it saying it was bad policy. It seems like an argument ensued, and a few people took offense. This happens every year. Everyone leaves this class offended at some level - both white and black.
He also read an article from The Onion about Rosa Parks that the two girls found offensive.
And the kicker was that he said he would give black students one extra point on their exams if they filled out a form or something. This was something in furtherance of the affirmative action stuff.
That's all we heard. They spent the rest of the year smearing his name around the school and around town. They also requested that he undergo "diversity training." Not sure what that entails but sounds like a blast.