Gordon Fulks sends this summary of the situation and asks that it be distributed. I’m happy to oblige. For some background on Dr. Drapela’s skeptical views, this slideshow “Global Warming Cracked Open” might give some insight into OSU’s booting him out. – Anthony
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From Gordon Fulks:
Hello Everyone,
In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. A wide range of ideas are openly discussed. The most viable rise to the top and the least viable fade away. But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological purity.
OSU is not yet as swift or efficient as the Soviet system when Joseph Stalin was trying to quash dissent among biologists who refused to go along with Trofim Lysenko. If warnings to compromise their integrity were not followed, Stalin simply had biologists shot. That quickly thinned the ranks of all biologists and persuaded the remaining ones to comply with Stalin’s wishes. Of course, it also destroyed Soviet biology, because Lysenko was pedaling nonsense. And Russian biology has never recovered.
We learned over the weekend that chemist Nickolas Drapela, PhD has been summarily fired from his position as a “Senior Instructor” in the Department of Chemistry. The department chairman Richard Carter told him that he was fired but would not provide any reason. Subsequent attempts to extract a reason from the OSU administration have been stonewalled. Drapela appears to have been highly competent and well-liked by his students. Some have even taken up the fight to have him reinstated.
What could possibly have provoked the OSU administration to take precipitous action against one of their academics who has been on their staff for ten years, just bought a house in Corvallis, and has four young children (one with severe medical problems)? Dr. Drapela is an outspoken critic of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, the official religion of the State of Oregon, the Oregon Democratic Party, and Governor John Kitzhaber.
Five years ago, Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor went around quietly saying that he was not a believer. Then Governor Ted Kulongoski and many faculty at OSU including Dr. Jane Lubchenco made life impossible for Taylor, and he retired. (Lubchenco is now head of NOAA in the Obama administration.) Under those currently in charge, OSU climate research has grown to be a huge business, reportedly $90 million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic support for climate hysteria. A small army of researchers ponder the effects of Global Warming on all sorts of things from tube worms living along the Oregon Coast to butterflies inland. When the climate refuses to warm (as it has for the last twenty years), they just study ‘warming in reverse!’ Most of us call that “cooling,” but they are very careful not to upset their Obama administration contract monitors with politically incorrect terminology.
Skeptics of Global Warming who oppose the OSU approach and oppose the politicians who make it all possible but do not work for OSU also find themselves attacked. Dr. Art Robinson who is running against Peter DeFazio for an Oregon Congressional seat found three of his children under attack at OSU. All were attempting to obtain advanced degrees in the Nuclear Engineering Department and were threatened with dismissal. Because Robinson fought back, we understand that the OSU administration backed down.
As to the latest victim of political correctness at OSU, Dr. Nickolas Drapela gives us an excellent synopsis of what is going on:
“The fact of the matter is that it is now two weeks since I was fired and no one has had the cajones or the common courtesy to even tell me why. I have spoken with the Dept. Chair (Rich Carter) who fired me, and he refused to tell me why. I spoke to the Dean of Science (Vince Remcho) and he couldn’t tell me why. I spoke to HR who set up a meeting with me, then cancelled it an hour before. Then I went to the Vice President of Academic Affairs (Becky Warner) and she sent me back to Rich Carter, the chemistry chair.
It’s just a sad, sad state of affairs that an institution like OSU would fire a good employee for (ostensibly) no reason and then run around and hide from the person they fired. I had stellar teaching evaluations, I won College of Science awards for teaching, and published textbooks. My class sections were always full and I was well-liked by students (see ratemyprofessors.com). I was doing my job very well. But I guess I didn’t march in step with their philosophies.
There were quite a few student protests over this at OSU (Barometer, Facebook, etc.) but to no avail.
I was given no severance and had no warning this was about to happen. In fact, I was lured into the chair’s office under the guise of a fallacious story before being fired.
As you know, I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the Global Warming doctrine at OSU. I gave several public talks on the topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the web. I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area. I think they finally just said, we can’t have this.
Can it be that a university whose motto is “Open minds. Open doors” cannot abide even one faculty member who disagrees with their dogma? I suppose I am too naive, but I’m still reeling from it. Unbelievable.
I should say that they regularly read all my email communications, which is why I am writing from this private email address. That has been going on for quite some time now.
As far as my options at this point, like I said I haven’t even really grasped what has just happened. I don’t know what I’m going to do, or what options I have yet. I’m sure OSU wants their story to be tight and perfectly identical among all administration before coming out with an official reason why I was fired, hence the long wait and refusal to speak to me.
I truly thank you for your concern, and I hope there is some recourse, even just for the sake of exposing what is happening at OSU.”
In a separate e-mail Drapela went on to say:
“Thanks so much for your support and your concern. That’s really nice. My students were all really upset about it. They started an email writing campaign to have me re-hired but I guess no one cares what they think.
I find that the people who want to keep things secret all the time are usually the people that have something to hide. It is certainly ok by me for you to disseminate this story. But I’m sure OSU would be horrified.
I’m not sure how I will support my family at this point. We just bought a house in Corvallis. I have four kids, one of whom has a rare, blood disorder and requires regular trips to Doernbecher’s Children’s Hospital for treatment. Now we will be without health insurance.”
We can only speculate as to how the decision to fire Drapela was made. Unlike the decision to force Taylor out (which came from the governor’s office), this decision was likely internal to OSU with the implicit backing of Governor Kitzhaber and NOAA administrator Lubchenco. I would suspect that Dr. Phil Mote (Director of their Climate Change Research Institute) had a hand in the decision, because he has previously been highly intolerant of those who oppose his ideas and could potentially threaten his business empire.
Please join with me in supporting Nick Drapela. Please join with me in supporting objective science, as well as academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. The issues here go far beyond just Global Warming and strike at the very heart of who we are as scientists and Americans.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD (Physics)
Corbett, Oregon USA
P.S. Please circulate this e-mail far and wide. The world needs to know what is going on here.
So, has he been actually fired or was his one year contract not renewed?
Latimer Alder says: June 11, 2012 at 11:13 pm
But just one question…I see that he cites IBM among the corporates who benefit from the green gravy train. This is news to me. Can anybody give further details? Thanks.
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“These collaborations and the strategy are paying off for IBM. In 2010, IBM’s Smarter Planet initiative generated US$3 billion in revenue and double-digit growth from more than 6000 client engagements.”
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/smarterplanet/
Also: The biggest data server farms are operated by Google, FaceBook, Microsoft and similar media server and social networking organizations. The room full of servers in an organization in the 1990’s can virtualy use one small server to handle just as much computing today. A lot of organizations are off loading their computing resources to companies that run virtual computers and handle all of the IT infrastructure. For an example, see Microsofts Cloud Computing services:
http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/viewpoints/cloud-services/default.aspx#fbid=Qz5faN0Nbys
“reportedly $90 million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic support for climate hysteria.”
Not accurate. The $90 million is the deliverable. Nothing else matters. If the $90 million was paying “scholars” to stand on their heads and recite the alphabet, it would be no better or worse. It would still be $90 million.
Can’t he sue for unfair dismissal .. at least they would have to provide a reason.
I fear this fellow got fired by people who fear the end of the gravy train, and are therefore desperate to keep the so-called “consensus” alive. They are rats, but rats are most dangerous when they are cornered.
Latimer Alder says:
June 12, 2012 at 12:30 am
‘blade computing’ = ‘lots of cards in a box sharing common services’, was the latest way to cut down those utility bills
Virtualization is the latest thing: one physical server running multiple virtual machines.
If Drapela believes he was fired on the basis of viewpoint discrimination, he should immediatley contact FIRE (Foundation fo Individual Rights in Education). They have handled similar cases in the past and have an excellent, non-partisan track record. thefire.org
There is no diversity when everyone thinks alike.
TimC,
Please cite the ‘bad performance’ you alluded to. Is there any evidence at all that Dr Drapela was fired for substandard job performance?
If you cannot provide evidence, then why do you think Dr Drapela was summarily fired? There must be a reason, no? Please tell us the reason, if you think it was anything other than political correctness. Because as someone whose taxes go to support that institution, I expect that different points of view should not be arbitrarily silenced because some petty tyrant disagrees.
WUWT has acheived its immense popularity precisely because of its very light moderation, while blogs like RealClimate have very low traffic due to their censorship of opposing ideas. Diversity of ideas is intrinsically desirable, even though there is always a subset of closed-mined, insecure people who would censor all dissenting views.
America has a long history of supporting different points of view – something the Communist element in our midst cannot tolerate. Because with open discourse, communism is seen as the refuge of totalitarian scoundrels who cannot win the debate using reason. Please explain why that kind of totalitarian censorship should be A-OK in a free society.
Sounds like a good news item for Fox News. Drapela should contact them.
Relevant information can be found in the OSU faculty handbook: http://oregonstate.edu/admin/aa/faculty-handbook-academic-freedom-and-faculty-appointments.
As a Senior Instructor Dr. Drapela is not likely to have tenure nor be protected by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). His contract probably was fixed-term (per semester or annually renewed). There is very little security with this status. A firing without so much as a reason given seems to contradict the lofty words about academic freedom, but there doesn’t seem much that he can do about it.
FWIW, these cases are not all that rare. Anyone in academia for a while has seen it happen. His students may like him because he’s friendly and a lenient grader. The administration may find things about his official performance unsatisfactory. Claiming persecution is a standard ploy of the aggrieved. Yet even the paranoid may have actual adversaries. Frankly, we don’t have enough information yet to judge his claims.
I had no idea that in the U.S. one can be fired with no reason given and no severance (UK: redundancy) pay. In the UK you have a little thing called a contract of employment between you the employee and the employer that is signed by the employee when accepting the job. It usually includes an agreement by the employer to provide a period of notice (usually one month) and severance pay in the event that your services become redundant (often it’s one month’s salary for every year you have been employed there). Equally there is usually an agreement by the employee built into the contract to provide one month’s notice to the employer prior to leaving that employment. Do U.S. employment contracts usually not contain such clauses?
Gary,
There is always a reason. What was the reason, and why are they so reluctant to admit it?
@billy liar
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Ummm.. renewed popularity of a very old thing actually. I learnt to use Virtual Machine (VM)/370 in the mid 1970s, and it was already quite established. Read about it here.
http://domino.watson.ibm.com/tchjr/journalindex.nsf/0/d6b9939ef2f3540b85256bfa0067f4d6
And it could run APL as well. I wonder if that will make a renaissance too 🙂
Myrrh says:
June 11, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Don’t you have unfair dismissal law in America?
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Unfortunately no. BTDT. If you are an hourly employee you have some legal protection. If you are a salaried employee you have an “at will” contract and can be fired at any time. This is true even in a far left state such as MA at least it was in the 1980’s Depending on the company they might even keep you from collecting Unemployment if they can justify the firing was for “Cause” to the state officials. (Had that fight too. Being honest is a firing offense)
crosspatch says:
June 11, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Maybe Hillsdale College in Michigan needs a Chemistry professor? They do have a chemistry program and they take exactly $0 per year in government money so they can remain independent.
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Crosspatch, I was thinking the same thing.
To bad we are heading into a “country divided” situation with two classes and a chasm between. Just what the Regulating Class loves. Bickering among ourselves while they make away with the cheese, our wallets and our freedom.
Administratively defensible lens:
Contracts end.
At the human level:
Libraries could be filled with spine-chilling non-re-appointment stories.
Technical details of rules of re-appointment vary by institution, but my guess is the most that would come out of a grievance (in most contexts) is some kind of benefit worth at most a few thousand dollars. A lot of time & energy could be drained in extraction. Not necessarily practical.
The best way to help the innocent children caught up in the chill of cold adult games:
Someone local give one or both of the parents reliable, secure work doing something at which they can be reasonably competent & comfortable.
Best Regards to All.
“pa32r says:
June 11, 2012 at 5:35 pm Sorry, no sale. In this litigious day and age no one with the slightest level of sophistication fires someone with no cause and with out making that cause known to the person fired (as an employer of 350 people, I know from painful personal experience). It’s a great way to rally the troops but I’m calling BS here.”
You’re simply wrong, at least in an “at will” state in the US. Indeed, the very litigiousness you refer to is an incentive for the employer to provide NO REASON for the firing, as is explicitly permitted under the law (for certain in Massachusetts, but presumably in other at-will employment states, as well). Any reason the employer provides for termination may be subject to legal attack, but how do you attack NO REASON? Because of this, many employers choose that option to avoid possible employment litigation (indeed, they’d be fools not to).
Had Dr. Drapela been in a “protected class”, such as being female or a minority member, he would have had powerful recourse. I presume he is merely a male caucasian, and for that sin he is left defenseless.
From a legal perspective, it’s better to fire somebody for no reason than a bad reason.
This does not necessarily mean there is no grounds in terminating somebody, it just means that it’s harder to bring a lawsuit when no reason is given. But if a reason is given for terminating someone, then a good lawyer can try to pick apart that reason in court.
I am not saying OSU had good cause, or any cause for terminating Dr. Fulks. Most likely they did not. I’m merely commenting on the sad state of our overly-litigious society.
I’m sorry, it was Dr. Drapela who was fired without cause.
@- Smokey says:
“There must be a reason, no? Please tell us the reason, if you think it was anything other than political correctness. Because as someone whose taxes go to support that institution, I expect that different points of view should not be arbitrarily silenced because some petty tyrant disagrees.”
It is only possible to speculate, but while I agree that different points of view should not be arbitrarily silenced, false information presented to students as factually accurate might be a reason for non-renewal of his contract.
The final slides of his presentation contain false information.
OSU is behaving exactly as you would expect a cornered rat to behave. And have no doubt, Anthony , Steve and the others have them cornered.
The ’60s Liberals have become everyhing they originally fought against.
Just send messages to Senator Inahofe and Congressman Issa with links to this story. Might help if others did the same (especially if you’re in Oklahoma or California).
Other examples of “uniformitarian” bias at the institutional level:
http://www.detectingdesign.org/?page_id=703