John Ruberry, the Marathon Pundit, has posted an update on the years-long case of Prof. tom Klocek v. DePaul University.
Some time ago when all this was first erupting, John asked me if I’d be interested in interviewing Prof. Klocek which I did on a couple of occasions. I believed then that Prof. Klocek was getting a raw deal. My view on that has not changed.
Here are John’s opening paragraphs. Read the rest at Marathon Pundit.
For over 14 years, Thomas Klocek was a well-liked adjunct professor at DePaul University School of New Learning. One course he taught was “Critical Thinking.” So it’s ironic that he was essentially fired by the Chicago Catholic university after engaging in a spirited discussion about Middle Eastern politics with members of Students for Justice in Palestine and United Muslims Moving Ahead at a new students fair at DePaul’s downtown campus in 2004. The groups were promoting the usual inflammatory tripe peddled by campus extremists such as comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
Unaccustomed to critical thinking, the SJP and UMMA members complained to Klocek’s deal–and Klocek became a former DePaul adjunct professor. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) got involved–of course they sided with the Muslim groups. Outside of a mathematics professor and some campus conservatives, no one at DePaul defended Klocek. As for Klocek, a devout Catholic, he learned that standing up for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, can be a career-ending move.
I’ve been covering the Klocek case for five years. He sued DePaul in the summer of 2005 for defamation. But shortly before the start of the trial, the third judge assigned to the case, a DePaul law school graduate, dismissed the suit.
