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March 10, 2005

Pathetic Protestations from Le Moyne

David Limbaugh today pointed out a story about a graduate student dismissed from Le Moyne because he advocated corporal punishment. Scott McConnell wrote in a paper that he thought “corporal punishment has a place in the classroom.” He also had controversial opinions on what he called “anti-American multiculturalism” and said that he would not favor some students over others in the name of self-esteem. The subject of the paper was how the students would like to run their classroom. He got an A- on the paper and in fact he had a 3.78 GPA that semester and received an “excellent” evaluation for his time spent in an actual classroom, but administrators decided to revoke his conditional acceptance to the college. In their acceptance letter, however, the college said that his academic performance would be the determining factor as to whether he would be accepted permanently. The letter said nothing about personal beliefs, nor were any students ever told that they were required to hold certain personal beliefs.

Some of the quotes from various officials in the New York Times are quite interesting.

Le Moyne's provost, John Smarrelli, said the college had the right as a private institution to take action against Mr. McConnell because educators had grave concerns about his qualifications to teach under state law.

…

Because it has an accredited school of education, moreover, Le Moyne officials said that the college was required to pledge that its graduates will be effective and law-abiding teachers who will foster a healthy classroom environment.

"We have a responsibility to certify people who will be in accordance with New York State law and the rules of our accrediting agencies," Mr. Smarrelli said. In Mr. McConnell's case, he said, "We had evidence that led us to the contrary."

…

[Joseph P. Frey, the assistant commissioner for quality assurance in the New York State Education Department] said that graduate education schools might face a threat to their accreditation, or legal action by school districts, if they produce teachers who fall into trouble

This is simply laughable. Have you heard of a single story of teacher misconduct in which the college the teacher went to was even mentioned, let alone blamed? There certainly aren’t any that are popping in to my mind. This also assumes that McConnell would disobey any law against corporal punishment, and that he’d not move to one of the 22 states where corporal punishment is legal. It certainly seems that no one at the school actually talked to him about these issues; in fact the first McConnell heard about this was when he got his dismissal letter. Their protestations of protecting themselves are pathetic at best.

Futhermore, the implication that officials in New York might agree with this is somewhat chilling. Wouldn't this lead to the chilling of free speech?

FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) is on the case. Responding to a letter from FIRE, Smarrelli said, “the College does not believe it is appropriate to enter a public debate with your organization concerning the College’s admission decision regarding any particular student.” (Although I see he has no problem with talking to the New York Times.)

In conclusion, lets take a look at Le Moyne’s mission statement:

Le Moyne College is a diverse learning community that strives for academic excellence in the Catholic and Jesuit tradition through its comprehensive programs rooted in the liberal arts and sciences. Its emphasis is on education of the whole person and on the search for meaning and value as integral parts of the intellectual life. Le Moyne College seeks to prepare its members for leadership and service in their personal and professional lives to promote a more just society.

Yeah, right.

Posted by illuminaria at March 10, 2005 04:15 PM

Comments

Posted by: luisalegria at March 16, 2005 06:17 PM