History Department struggles with article issue

Professors in the history department say the recent debate over a colleague's article and the aftermath has left both the department and the graduate assistants within it struggling to understand where the faculty and the students go from here.

Eight history faculty members recently came out in a letter to the editor and a paid advertisement in the DAILY EGYPTIAN to distance themselves from professor Jonathan Bean's use of an article they called "racist propaganda." Robbie Lieberman, one of the professors who signed the letter, said the History Department has almost come to a halt in the past few weeks trying to come to grips with the recent turn of events that has left graduate assistants stunned and faculty confused over how to deal with the issue.

"The department is in turmoil," Lieberman said. "We still have to teach our classes, pay attention to the needs of our students and deal with these issues." Bean's use of an article titled "Remembering the Zebra Killings," written by James Lubinskas, sparked a debate about the boundaries academic freedom. The article goes into detail about a series of murders that took place in the San Francisco Bay area known to police as the Zebra Killings. The murders were unique because white people were targeted in every case.

Bean downloaded the article from frontpagemagazine.com, which contained 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 the "damage done" and then removed the article from his class sections. The History Department is in the midst of trying to make a transition from an outgoing department chair to the next, as well as dealing with a lack of minority students at its graduate level, which Lieberman said is further complicated by last week's events. She said this incident would affect future minority recruiting.

Graduate assistants would not comment on the state of the department or the issue. Many faculty members came out in support of Bean across campus saying that his right to distribute the article in his class was violated when these professors challenged its content. The faculty members leading the charge against Bean have said they are not trying to stifle his voice.

"He has a right to whatever he wants," Lieberman said. "No one has attacked what he believes."

Last week, the faculty and the graduate assistants held a series of close meetings to deal with the events in Bean's class and the excusing of two of his graduate assistants.

Bean was set to attend one of the meetings but could not because of a family emergency. Jane Adams, an anthropology professor who has come out in support of the professor, attended the meeting as his proxy. Professors at the meeting asked her to leave.

Bean said he had been given two new graduate assistants, both of whom graduated from the department, but are not currently a part of the SIUC system. Bean said he was glad to get some help to finish of the semester.

"I love teaching, and I don't want any one to take that away from me," Bean said. "I also don't want anyone disrupting the education of my students." Professors against Bean said the debate revolves around the use of improper sourcing and not whether or not he had a right to distribute the article.