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“We Know What’s Best, So Just Shut the Fuck Up.”

The Emerald today is carrying a guest commentary by Dr. Jerry Rosiek, who expresses concern over the recent controversies over the University’s affirmative action and diveristy hiring programs. Far from being concerned about whether or not the accusations are true, Dr. Rosiek is instead worried that the lawsuit filed by Joseph Wade might “distract” people from more important things — namely heaping accolades upon the diversity program:

The danger is that the University’s new leaders will be distracted by things like Wade’s suit, and will not appreciate the important work that has recently been done by the OIED under Dr. Martinez’s leadership.

Never you mind the man behind the curtain!

Even more astonishlingly, Rosiek opines that Wade’s suit is probably “specious” and in any case constitutes:

…part of a pattern of harassment against the director of the OIED. This harassment has included University professor Bill Harbaugh’s complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice that the University’s Minority Recruitment Program, or UMRP, violates federal law. These complaints resulted in a Department of Justice investigation of the University. [emphasis added]

Have things really come to the point on this campus that questioning the wisdom of “diversity above all” (or even filing suit over possible breaches of the law) is to engage in a “pattern of harassment”?

Rosiek also attempts a little spin, trying to cast Bill Harbaugh as engaging in some sort of insidious skullduggery for taking the time to inquire into the University’s diversity program:

Harbaugh has a long record of attempting to obstruct diversity efforts. Last year, according to the Emerald, after filing nearly 20 public records requests and posing many more questions about University diversity policy by e-mail, Harbaugh received a letter from General Counsel Melinda Grier saying that the University would no longer answer his questions.

It may seem strange to you to qualify as “obstructionist” a professor who made repeated requests to obtain supposedly public documents only to be rejected nearly 20 times, rather than the agency that was… you know… obstructing access to those records, citing only the fact that it would “take a tremendous amount of time” to dig them up.

(You might remember the Commentator’s coverage of the same events.)

Rosiek isn’t done, though. He goes on to claim, in fact, that Harbaugh and Wade have no right to meddle because they have no “mandate from the community”:

What all of this means is that a couple of people – without any mandate from our community – are attempting to obstruct the University’s efforts to make progress where diversity issues are concerned. Exercising free speech and voicing dissent is one thing. Attempting to use grievance processes and lawsuits to undermine the implementation of a diversity plan overwhelmingly approved by the faculty senate, and in which University leadership has invested significant funds, is quite another thing. It is an effort by a few to impose their will on our community through bureaucratic means. [emphasis added]

The message is clear: “Don’t you dare poke your noses where they’re not welcome. Any attempts to hinder the progress of the University’s diversity plan will not be tolerated. How dare you?”

Dr. Rosiek seems barely able to contain his contempt for wreckers like Wade and Harbaugh  and urges “[o]ur new University leaders” to be “responsible” and ignore them. What Rosiek’s letter represents is nothing less than a perfect example of the worldview of the “diversity” gang, who slander anyone who questions or interferes with their schemes as “obstructionist” (if not “racist”). And they aren’t making use of their right of free speech; they are instead engaging in “harassment”.

Frankly, it isn’t Harbaugh and Wade that this University should be worried about; it’s Jerry Rosiek and his apparent belief that the right free speech is negotiable when “diversity” is on the table. It’s fundamentally illiberal and it’s dangerous.

  1. Chris Holman says:

    I think the U of O gets somewhere around 18% of its funding from the state.

    So, maybe, they’re just giving the people 18% of their right to see this stuff?

  2. Timothy says:

    In this case it’s particularly galling that information that is part of the public record is being withheld because the parties asking for it are posing uncomfortable questions.

    This is pretty typical behavior of a someone whose power is threatened, but it’s still ridiculous. I’m wondering if there’s a working paper on institutional incentive structures in there some place, maybe based on the work of some other folks in the UO Economics department.

  3. Bill Harbaugh says:

    Our right to petition our government for a redress of our grievances is in the first amendment to our constitution. I like to use those rights, so they don’t rust up.

  4. Vincent says:

    you seem to be conflating the right to free speech with a right not to be criticized publicly.

    I’m under no such misapprehension.

    When I read that “free speech is one thing” and what Harbaugh and Wade are engaged in “is quite another thing,” however, I don’t feel like I’m too off-base in thinking that the implication is that Harbaugh and Wade should not be allowed to continue their activities. My suspicions are only strengthened when I read things like “And the people [filing grievances] should, in my opinion, be checked” in the Emerald’s comments section.

    Seems like there’s a little bit of a gulf between forbidding people with pesky questions from filing grievances and trying to obtain supposedly public information and mere “public criticism”, doesn’t it Jerry?

  5. jerry says:

    site…of course..not cite.

  6. jerry says:

    I love the headline. And the elevated nature of discourse on this cite.

    I’ll leave the scatology to the experts, and simply offer that you seem to be conflating the right to free speech with a right not to be criticized publicly.

  7. Michelle Haley says:

    No no no, CJ, that’s Pantload Monthly he’s eating.

  8. CJ Ciaramella says:

    I heard Tim H. eats his own poop.

  9. Vincent says:

    Jackleg?

    Quibbledick?

  10. Tim H. says:

    Well Timothy I’m glad to see that you are as mature as the rest of them! Douchebag? Can’t you come up with something more creative?

  11. lcp says:

    Is Dr. Jerry Rosiek channeling Gov. George C. Wallace, or what?

    “Exercising free speech and voicing dissent is one thing. Attempting to use grievance processes and lawsuits to undermine the implementation of a diversity plan overwhelmingly approved by the faculty senate, and in which University leadership has invested significant funds, is quite another thing.”

    “Exercising free speech and voicing dissent is one thing. Attempting to use organized marches and lawsuits to undermine the continuation of a segregation system overwhelmingly approved by the state legislature and the people of Alabama, and in which the Alabama State Government has invested significant funds, is quite another.”

    Sheesh. These fascists have no shame.

  12. Timothy says:

    For somebody with such an awesome first name, you sure are a douchebag, Mr. Tim H.

  13. Tim H. says:

    Regardless of how any of us feel about Martinez or Harbaugh is it necessary to attack these people personally? Shouldn’t we attack the administration that allows these policies and procedures to be ignored? Let’s fix this instead of just bantering on and on. You are acting like children. douchebag? Please.

  14. Josh M. says:

    Olly, that reminds me of a classic exchange from Ghostbusters:

    Ray: “…until the power grid was shut off by Dickless here.”

    Walter Peck, EPA: “They caused an explosion!”

    Mayor: (pause) (to Peter Venkman) “Is this true?”

    Venkman: “Yes, it’s true. This man has no dick.”

    Oh, also this Rosiek is a douchebag.

  15. Sean Jin says:

    Is that a trick question, or is it Dr. Charles Martinez?

  16. Pro-diversity & Environment says:

    Who in OIED drives a Lexus SUV?

  17. Timothy says:

    Professor Harbaugh – Name a secured location and we can have a courier dispense the goods.

    Olly – I am sure Rosiek has a bright future at the Melinda Grier Institute for Creative Legal Interpretation.

  18. Chris Holman says:

    Well, if the UMRP funds have been as beneficial as Rosie-K says they are, I’m not sure why the funding should just be given to departments anyway so that you don’t have to have a minority hire in order to have the benefits that are apparently being seen through this program. Why hold such benefits to the university and students hostage behind a program that, apparently, isn’t put into use too often because of the lack of diversity on campus…whatever “diversity” means. If anything, it would seem to me that tying these funds directly to the UMRP only strengthens the argument that a department would be inclined to act in a way that is not in the spirit of the UMRP in order to get their hands on the money and the apparent deluge of awesomeness that follows the funds. But then, we’ve been assured by the UO’s lawyer that humans on campus do not behave in human ways and no one ever does things that could be construed as illegal or against the spirit of programs like the UMRP.

    I’m also not sure there is as much room to conflate the UMRP issue with the issue of Wade v. OIED. If anything, I would say that the seriousness and non-moonbat involvement of the Department of Justice has, at the very least, alluded to the importance of clarifying what the UMRP is all about and how it is used. Even opponents of Harbaugh would seemingly have to say that he’s got this one right. At least, more so than in the past (in their eyes).

    I enjoyed this line:

    “All of this is old news to those who have followed UO’s efforts to address a persistent lack of diversity among its faculty and students.”

    When I look around campus I see Arabs, Asians, Africans, African-Americans, Latinos, et al. along with the affiliated groups on campus that support these groups of people and allow them to share whatever they’d like with the rest of us. There is a plethora of events on campus throughout the year where people can attend and learn about other cultures, languages, etc. I haven’t even named every group that there is (i.e. Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, LGTBQ, and so on).

    So, when I hear the constant whinging about the lack of ‘diversity’ on campus I find myself wondering just what the people involved in the whinging see when they look around. One could say that they see the geographic reality of a northwestern state in the United States. Namely, a majority of ‘white’ people who apparently are homogeneous, monolithic and mono-cultural and lack diversity themselves because of the color of their skin. They may look at census numbers and graphs and bemoan the fact that for a long time, minorities have not moved to this region in droves. What is the solution? Shall we conduct a diversity crusade in minority areas elsewhere and drag them back here, give them jobs at the U of O and then clap and pat ourselves on the back?

    The U of O should be open to minorities and everyone else on the planet and whatever label best fits them when it comes to being hired at the U of O. I’m not sure how the U of O can manufacture diversity though, except through hiring bribes like the UMRP. I would also like to see the information about what makes education qualitatively ‘better’ when minorities are the ones educating. I have no doubt that there are plenty of minorities out there who are capable, intelligent, wonderful people who would be great to have at the U of O. Still, I am wary of putting them on a pedestal (not of their choosing mind you) because of a sort of diversity paranoia that is apparently pervasive on campus and in the local area in general. Can ‘we’ not be 100% open to minority hires and ‘diversity’ in general without constructing vague bureaucratic frameworks to facilitate the non-reality-based paranoia of people who want to ‘look’ good rather than BE good?

    I’ll end with THIS website that shows that despite popular belief (apparently)…there were increases of African-American and Hispanic populations in Lane County and Oregon between 2000-2003. If anything, these maps show that Oregon is comfortably in the red (that is good) and far more ‘diverse’ than other areas of the country.

    I wonder if they sit around bemoaning their geographic realities as well…

  19. Olly says:

    Ah, good times. Someone named Paul comments:

    “Further, the hearsay in the statement “Rumor has it that Harbaugh has been in contact with Wade about his lawsuit.” is below open and honest discourse.”

    And Rosiek responds:

    “As for my statement about the rumor, it is true. This *is* a rumor circulating on campus.”

    This is – to say the very least – a novel defense.

  20. Vincent says:

    Just FYI:

    Rosiek and Harbaugh have both posted in the comments section of the Emerald story.

  21. Niedermeyer says:

    “The next thing you know, someone will be claiming that a diversity of ideas and vigorous debate are good things!”

    Claiming, sure. It seems to stop there.

  22. Ian says:

    Harbaugh has a long record of attempting to obstruct diversity efforts. Last year, according to the Emerald, after filing nearly 20 public records requests and posing many more questions about University diversity policy by e-mail, Harbaugh received a letter from General Counsel Melinda Grier saying that the University would no longer answer his questions.

    How dare a University professor ask questions? Asking questions and following legal grievance procedures goes against the most important feature of the modern American university: Faculty Groupthink.

    The next thing you know, someone will be claiming that a diversity of ideas and vigorous debate are good things!

  23. Vincent says:

    I thought you wanted scotch, Dr. Harbaugh.

  24. Bill Harbaugh says:

    Thanks for this great vivisection guys, but where is my rye whiskey?

    Professor Harbaugh

  25. orwellduk says:

    Hate to break up the diversity mosh pit but a poor duck shop got clobbered over the weekend. The alum center plan has jumped 13th and is now part of the arena. It squashed the proposed duck shop site. I realize you are not following the mediarena so I will just hurl the breaking news tidbits at your blog like dirt clods for now on okay? Alley vacation hearings(two will be dozed for arena) are 7-21-2008 at 7:30 p.m. I love reserving my birthday for fascist Nike court cases!

  26. Sean Jin says:

    The effort to impose their will on a community through bureaucratic means…that’s an ability that exists in our society and government for a very good reason:

    It’s called minority rights.

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