Posted on 09/27/2001 4:53:54 AM PDT by kattracks
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A state representative is charging a University of New Mexico history professor with committing a form of treason for saying on the morning of Sept. 11 after a hijacked jetliner struck the Pentagon, ``anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote.''
Rep. William Fuller and two other Republican representatives, as well as a school regent, is demanding the resignation of Richard Berthold, a tenured associate history professor.
``Treason is giving aide or comfort to the enemy,'' Fuller said. ``Any terrorist who heard Berthold's comment was comforted.''
Berthold made the remark in front of a class. Fuller said if Berthold doesn't resign, he and others will ask the Board of Regents to fire him.
On Monday, John Trainor of Albuquerque filed a lawsuit in state District Court seeking the professor's dismissal, according to court records. The lawsuit alleges Berthold advocated violence and treason against the United States. That case has been assigned to Judge Robert Scott.
University President William Gordon released a statement this week without naming Berthold.
``The university will deal with a remark made by one of its professors on the day of the tragic events of Sept. 11 ... . through its internal disciplinary procedures,'' Gordon said.
``We are, of course, mindful of the First Amendment protection of freedom of speech . . . and the faculty's guidelines for professional conduct in the classroom,'' he added.
Berthold, in a letter to the editor in Monday's Daily Lobo, the university student newspaper, issued a formal apology.
``It is the inclination of my personality to deal with shocking events by making light of them,'' he wrote. ``I was simply being at the moment an incredibly insensitive and unthinking jerk.''
Time will tell if it was really "at the moment."
Liberal coward - hiding in academia - cannot even stand up to his words.
'Free Speech' should not be stretched to cover words/acts of treason.
This guy is clearly an unqualified idiot, no matter how many degrees he has. What is wrong with this university's hiring process that it hires such idiots?
Why should the taxpayers be paying the salary of this guy or of the university administration that hired him?
If politicians say "This is a really good reason to reevaluate funding levels for the entire system," I betch the university rolls over right quick.
Freedom of speech guarantees this guys right to say whatever he wants - it does not give him the right to be supported by the taxpayer while he does so.
Professor = dead meat and or fresh meat .
Justice is a good thing.
Cheese.
But your rush to defend this piece of filth is noteworthy. Giving aid and comfort to traitors is treason as well.
It is all of New Mexico (except for a few radicals) who didn’t like what he said. The guy should have been fired immediately. His statements were treasonous during war-time, and there were more than two witnesses who could testify against him. The government should not force students to put up with treasonous lectures by radical leftist history professors who hate this country.
The 1st Amendment just says that Congress (the federal congress) shall make no laws “abridging the freedom of speech”, and regarding that professor, no federal law has been made that abridges his freedom of speech. The 9th And 10th Amendments allows “the people” and “the States” to kick idiot professors out of their jobs. If he wants to go on a street corner and speak treasonous statements as a private citizen, he is still free to do so.
And if you don’t like our country, you can leave it.
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