Professor Who Joked About 9/11 to Retire

The Guardian ^

[Jakarta ex-pat]

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A University of New Mexico history professor who was heavily criticized for telling a class on the day of the terrorist attacks, ``Anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote'' is retiring this month, complaining of constant harassment.

Richard Berthold, a 55-year-old tenured professor, was forced to apologize for the remark, which he called ``an incredibly stupid joke.'' The university also barred him from teaching freshmen.

``Constant harassment by persons in authority at the university is now driving me into retirement,'' he said in a statement Monday. He has taught at the university for 30 years.

Provost Brian Foster said Berthold is not being forced out.

Berthold stayed off campus for a brief period after his remark while police investigated obscene and threatening calls to the history department. He also said he was assaulted in front of his home.

[Jakarta ex-pat]

1 down.

millions to go.

[Tall_Texan]

Someone makes a very offensive comment. Receives massive criticism. Is unable to hold onto his job. Blames everyone but himself.

HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF!!!

Somebody should write a thesis...

[ohioman]

Cool. Now if he would only move to France.....

[grobdriver]

``Constant harassment by persons in authority at the university is now driving me into retirement,''

Goodbye. Good riddence.

[FourPeas]

Constant harassment by persons in authority at the university

Caught in his Ivory Tower saying absurdly stupid and offensive things and he expects something different? Obviously, the guy has the right to his opinion and to express it, but there is such a thing as thinking -- not that your average college professor would understand it. Can you imagine being part of the administration trying to solicit alums for contributions after this guy's well-publicized stupidity?

[Glenn]

Goodbye. Good riddence.

So much for freedom of speech. (I'm assuming that must be what you are saying farewell to.)

[OldFriend]

Thanks to the internet these types of outrageous statements do not go unchallenged. Good riddance to the America haters.

[Paul Atreides]

That's just it; speech isn't free and hasn't been for a long time. If this had been a professor talking gleefully about the death of thousands of any of the left's sacred cows, he wouldn't have lasted long enough to choose retirement. Tit-for-tat.

[HiTech RedNeck]

He's getting harassled? Awwwwwwwww.

[Chad Fairbanks]

No one is forcing him to retire... he made a choice to make the remark, and he is also making the choice to retire... no one forced him to do anything...

[Cicero]

Odd in a way, because numerous professors have repeatedly said worse things and gotten away with it. He must have played it really badly, since leftists usually dominate the universities and protect one another.

[DWSUWF]

"...He also said he was assaulted in front of his home..."

Assaulted?

Apparently not by anyone who takes their 'assaulting' seriously.

[EternalHope]

I suggest he move to Saudi Arabia. Lots of folks there would like to do the same thing he would like to do: blow up the Pentagon.

[cmak9]

So much for freedom of speech. (I'm assuming that must be what you are saying farewell to.)

No one prohibited the idiotic professor from making his remarks (he had freedom of speech). Now he is having to accept the consequences. No one ever promised there would not be consequences to free speech.

[Snuffington]

Odd in a way, because numerous professors have repeatedly said worse things and gotten away with it. He must have played it really badly, since leftists usually dominate the universities and protect one another.

Actually, if I recall from previously posted articles, Berthold is not a leftist. He's a member of the National Association of Scholars - a group opposed to things like campus "hate speech" codes, and academically questionable fields like "Womens studies."

That may explain why the university was happy to hang him out to dry over this.

[grobdriver]

So much for freedom of speech. (I'm assuming that must be what you are saying farewell to.)

You have the right to speak. You do not have the right to be heard.
Goodbye and good riddence to anyone who jokes about the deaths of their countrymen at the hands of an enemy. You won't see me shed any tears over the disappearance of another leftist who has probably had his hand in the pollution of this county's future (his students).

[SerpentDove]

Common decency prohibits me from saying what I really think of that...person.

[mikeb704]

1 down.

millions to go.

Here's another I'd really like to see leave.

SXU professor gets kid-glove treatment

[Jerry_M]

Hey, Berthold! Don't let the door hit you in the a** on the way out!

(While you are at it, please re-locate to either Kalifornia or anywhere east of the Mississippi.)