History faculty face off with professor over article

A group of history faculty is challenging the College of Liberal Arts' Teacher of the Year because he used an article the group calls "racist propaganda" that was distributed in his large American history lecture as optional reading. Professor Jonathan Bean's use of an article titled "Remembering the Zebra Killings," written by James Lubinskas, has sparked a debate about the boundaries of academic freedom as well what Bean calls a being dropped on him and his reputation.

Shirley Clay Scott, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, sent Bean a letter April 12 suggesting that the professor does not understand the "parameters of discussion." Scott canceled Bean's discussion sections for the week and told his teaching assistants they did not have continue teaching the course for the rest of the semester.

Scott refused to comment about the issue. Bean said he is spending this week trying to save his course. He has lost two of his three graduate teaching assistants to the issue. The teaching assistants would not comment about the incident. "They have dropped a bomb on me and left my course in complete disarray," Bean said.

Bean said he had apologized and pulled the article from his course before the allegations made by eight history professors in a letter to the editor was sent to the DAILY EGYPTIAN. Several professors said the faculty could have challenged the professor's use of the article through a formal review process. Instead they chose to inform the University about the issue in a public forum and then a paid advertisement in the paper.

Robbie Lieberman, one of the professors who signed the open letter to the University community condemning Bean's article, said the faculty values academic freedom and that they are not trying to stifle Bean's voice. "Everybody should bring up controversial topics," Lieberman said. "But you have to do it in a responsible way."

The article goes into detail about a series of murders that took place in the San Francisco bay area, which have become known to police as the Zebra Killings. The murders were unique because white people were targeted in all of the cases.

Angry professors said the article paints a grisly picture of the murders, going into details about how a victim was "decapitated while pleading for her life" and then implies that black people in the area were unremorseful.

While professors against Bean's use of the article said they do not want to perpetuate a repressive academic culture, they stress that with academic freedom comes academic responsibility. In this case, the professors said, Bean was irresponsible for using a less-than-credible source. Bean said professors are attempting to railroad him for what is essentially a blooper.

"I had two direct ancestors hung as witches at Salem," Bean said. "I don't plan to be the third." The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has taken on Bean's case. Leonard Gross, an SIUC law school professor and ACLU lawyer, is Bean's counsel. Gross would not comment on whether Bean was planning to sue the department for defamation. Bean would not comment about his plans either.

Bean downloaded the article from frontpagemagazine.com. The original document has a link to the European American Issues Forum, and faculty members say Bean removed the link to hide the article's anti-Semitic and racist bias. But Bean said it was simply a matter of trying to fit it onto two pages. He apologized to the faculty for "damage done" and then removed the article from his class sections.

The forum describes itself as a moderate and thoughtful civil rights organization dedicated to the eradication of discrimination and defamation of European Americans. The group states that it does not slur other racial or ethnic groups.

Bean's use of the article has ignited a debate that is pitting professors actively denouncing Bean for academic irresponsibility against professors who say the University's culture of liberal political correctness has created a "witch hunt" atmosphere.

"Free speech makes for strange bedfellows," Bean said. The eight history professors said Bean removed a paragraph that included a hypertext for the European-American's group that would have taken an online reader to the group's Web site. Bean said the link was erroneous and unrelated to the material contained in the article.

According to the Washington Post, the author of the article, Lubinskas, has ties to right-wing nationalist groups, such as American Friends of the British Nationalist Party. The summer 2000 edition of the group's newsletter describes a meeting in which Lubinskas was on stage with former Louisiana Ku Klux Klansman David Duke.

Bean said he had no knowledge of the author's links to either Duke or the right-wing nationalist group. "It was not my intent to inflame or deceive but rather to bring up an event that occurred," Bean said.

Bean is the faculty adviser for both the College Republicans and the Libertarian Society and is an active Libertarian, but he said he does not let his political leanings seep into his classes.

Rachel Stocking, another history professor who signed the letter, called the piece blatant propaganda.

She said it was a history professor's responsibility to teach students about proper sourcing. Stocking said Bean's irresponsible use of an inappropriate source goes against their function as history professors.

"This article is basically white supremacist propaganda," Stocking said. Bean said he has searched through each Web site linked to the article looking for racist material and has not found any evidence linking the article to racist beliefs.

Some professors who have different political ideologies than Bean have rushed to defend the 10-year veteran of the University. They say the faculty mobbed the professor to "out" him to the University community without having to go through the proper disciplinary channels.

Jane Adams, an anthropology professor who went to Mississippi in the 1960s to help blacks register to vote, said the professors attacking Bean are "assassinating" his character instead of going through the University's proper judicial proceedings.

"They have ruined his reputation," Adams said. "There is no way once someone has been smeared to take it off the record." Bean, thought of as a "conservative" to many, is surprised by the outpouring of support he has received form people who are on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Adams said if conservative professors feel threatened by the University's ideological environment, then all professors are in danger.

"For anybody who is a conservative, this has got to be a chilling case," Adams said. "This puts an ax at the root of academic freedom and the freedom of inquiry."

Joan Friedenberg, who led a group of professors decrying "academic mobbing" at a Board of Trustees meeting this semester, said this case reeks of faculty mob action. Friedenberg said although she may not align herself politically with Bean, the history faculty members involved in this instance has stepped over the bounds.

"This is a classic case of mobbing," Friendenberg said. For now, Bean has adopted the Jewish name "Shemtov," which translates literally to "good name," to try to restore what he says has been damaged by a group of crusading professors.