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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Dubious about their claims
Letters to the Editor | 11/20/07
Posted online at 10:05 PM EST on 11/19/07
/ Last updated at 2:15 AM EST on 11/19/07
I have no idea what went on in Prof. Hindley's classroom. Apparently, the Brandeis community will have to wait a while before we learn precisely what was said. But, whenever the source of a "discrimination" or "harassment" complaint comes from public statements made in a classroom, our antennae ought to go up. We ought to be concerned about threats to academic freedom and have a standard of review more objective and rigorous than whether or not a particular student or group of students was offended ("Prof Hindley's case still under appeal," Nov. 13 issue).
There are also very serious questions about the process used by the University to pursue the complaints in this matter. Anyone accused of serious misconduct ought to be guaranteed, at a minimum, the right to a thorough, fair and impartial investigation; the right to confront one's accusers and the evidence supporting their claim; and adequate time to investigate, prepare and submit a defense to the complaint.
It is not clear that this fundamental due process has been afforded thus far to Prof. Hindley. Indeed, from the University's reliance on anonymous complaints to Prof. Steven Burg's (POL) astonishing statement, ( that there was no need for administrators to speak with the students in Prof. Hindley's class-other than the complainant(s)-there is every reason to be concerned that due process and basic fairness have been trampled here. That should be unacceptable anywhere-even more so in a university bearing the name of Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis.
-Jonathan F. Horn '76
There are also very serious questions about the process used by the University to pursue the complaints in this matter. Anyone accused of serious misconduct ought to be guaranteed, at a minimum, the right to a thorough, fair and impartial investigation; the right to confront one's accusers and the evidence supporting their claim; and adequate time to investigate, prepare and submit a defense to the complaint.
It is not clear that this fundamental due process has been afforded thus far to Prof. Hindley. Indeed, from the University's reliance on anonymous complaints to Prof. Steven Burg's (POL) astonishing statement, ( that there was no need for administrators to speak with the students in Prof. Hindley's class-other than the complainant(s)-there is every reason to be concerned that due process and basic fairness have been trampled here. That should be unacceptable anywhere-even more so in a university bearing the name of Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis.
-Jonathan F. Horn '76
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