Daniel Pipes: My Day in Court

FrontPageMagazine.com ^ | December 7, 2004 | Daniel Pipes

[SJackson]

FrontPageMagazine.com | December 7, 2004

Threats of legal action in Middle East and Islamic issues are about as common as corrupt practices at the United Nations – and almost as problematic.

Islamist organizations like the Council on American-Islamic Relations and Global Relief Foundation frequently resort to litigation to suppress free speech, as do individual figures such as Khaled bin Mahfouz.

Personally, I have never threatened a lawsuit, preferring the court of public opinion to the court of law. If those who disagree with me have often enough raised the prospect of libel, just one person has actually gone to court against me. That would be a certain Douglas Card, adjunct professor at the University of Oregon.

His action originated from an article Jonathan Schanzer and I published in June 2002, “Extremists on Campus.” The oped discussed anti-Israel activities at American universities and referenced several faculty members, including Card. In his complaint, Card took issue with the following paragraph:

University of Oregon: In a course entitled “Social Inequality,” the sociology department’s Douglas Card reportedly called Israel “a terrorist state” and Israelis “baby-killers” and insisted that students agree with his view that Israel “stole land” on the final exam. One student said Card bashed Israel and Jews “at every opportunity.”

A few weeks after the article appeared, Card contacted me to protest this depiction, saying it caused him “great pain” and damaged his personal and professional reputation. He warned me that failing publicly to retract and apologize for this passage “would end up causing more damage to your own professional career than my own.” My reply was terse: “I note your threat to do damage to my career. On principle, I do not communicate with someone who attempts to intimidate me.”

Card responded, “I deeply regret using that phrase,” thereby opening the way for negotiations between him, Schanzer, and me. Schanzer and I offered to compromise if he took several steps, including showing us the final exam in question and writing something that “describes the dangerous atmosphere that has developed on campus, then condemn the outbreak of hatred against Jews and Israel supporters.” Were he to do so, we would publicly announce that we understand he does not condone extremism on campus.

He and we bargained over the details of this for a few rounds, going nowhere. Card then went quiet for many months and I forgot the whole matter.

Suddenly, in September 2003, he brought a libel suit against Schanzer and me, seeking a preposterously large sum of money. At the earliest possible point in the litigation, however, Card not only had his case dismissed in March 2004, but ended up owing us thousands of dollars in legal fees. Not surprisingly, he appealed the trial court’s judgment.

This fall, the appellate court suggested a mediator to explore a settlement, as it does routinely. He and we ultimately agreed to a resolution that, ironically, brought us almost precisely to where things had left off before Card resorted to litigation.

Card finally showed us his examination and, in a joint statement, Card condemned “anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism” as well as “professors who use their classrooms to promote anti-Semitic and anti-Israel beliefs.” He recognized “the danger of espousing such views - particularly on university campuses.” He expressed “his horror at the wave of anti-Semitic events around the world in recent years” and said he was “especially troubled by the attacks on Jewish students on college campuses.”

In light of these statements, Schanzer and I said we are now convinced that “Card does not condone extremism in the classroom.”

I come away from this experience with two conclusions. First, Card made a mistake in going the route of legal action, with all its nuisance and expense, for in the end he and we each did what could have done had he simply cooperated with us two years earlier. Exposing himself to the unforgiving demands of the court system turned out to be a bad idea.

Second, this libel case confirms what I noted concerning another lawsuit which I helped publicize: a cohort of smart, ambitious attorneys at major law firms are ready, even eager, to help on a pro-bono basis to fight back would-be censors such as CAIR. Freedom of speech, I am pleased to report, is still robust in these United States.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Luis Gonzalez]

It plays all day after I record it, so you'll be able to listen to a re-broadcast later today.

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Thanks guy!

[ppaul]

.....a certain Douglas Card, adjunct professor at the University of Oregon.

RDDB in a hotbed of RDDB's?

Douglas Card email Doug

Doug grew up in Oregon and has lived in Coos Bay, Eugene, Roseburg and Medford. He completed his undergraduate studies at Willamette University, Salem, OR and his PhD at the University of Oregon, Eugene, OR in sociology. Doug is currently an Adjunct Professor at the UO in the Sociology Department specializing in social history and American Society. His past work includes teaching sociology at the following educational institutions: Lane Community College, Eugene, OR Linn-Benton Community College, Corvallis, OR & Albany, OR Umpqua Community College, Roseburg, OR Ohio State University, Columbus, OH United States International University, San Diego, CA Doug is very active in the community and has been the Chairman of Lane Applegate Trail Committee and the Co-Chair of the McNail-Riley House Rehabilitation Committee. He has been active in Eugene Historic Preservation Week for 12 years, developed historic dramatization of Eugene History for the Eugene Celebration, led walking tours, directed videotaping of local historical events and has been a consultant to the City of Eugene on historic issues. He has also been an Op-ed columnist for The Register-Guard, a guest on the KEZI talkshow Eugene Energy and a contributor to other media in Lane County. He has also written on the history of Coos and Douglas Counties as well. Articles written for eugene.com: skinner city journal, history section

[FBD]

Oregon PING:
Daniel Pipes run-in with a University of Oregon liberal professor:

University of Oregon:
"In a course entitled “Social Inequality,” the sociology department’s Douglas Card reportedly called Israel “a terrorist state” and Israelis “baby-killers” and insisted that students agree with his view that Israel “stole land” on the final exam. One student said Card bashed Israel and Jews “at every opportunity.”

A few weeks after the article appeared, Card contacted me to protest this depiction, saying it caused him “great pain” and damaged his personal and professional reputation. He warned me that failing publicly to retract and apologize for this passage “would end up causing more damage to your own professional career than my own.” My reply was terse: “I note your threat to do damage to my career. On principle, I do not communicate with someone who attempts to intimidate me.”

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Oregon Ping

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[blackie]

Daniel Pipes ~ Bump!

[FBD]

mornin' Blackie

[blackie]

Mornin' FBD. :)

[Cold Heart]

Is this where the term "A CARD carrying communist" came from?

[LayoutGuru2]

Thanks for the ping, reading this made my day. ;)

[fire_eye]

Now just picture this witless dork running full tilt at a concrete wall, going **SLAM** right into it, bouncing back a couple of feet, shaking his head and rubbing his bruises, picking up his tweedy-professor cap and putting it back on his head, walking back 100 feet or so and doing it again, over and over again...

[ApesForEvolution]

The Religion of Peace

[dolander2002]

Been out of town and missed this. Hoorah for Daniel Pipes!

Thanks for the ping!

[bigsigh]

I've seen this list a dozen times and I appreciate it, but please correct the spelling of Marine in 1983. Thanx!