Cancelling Dr. Seuss

[jimbogumbo]

Part of me is confused. to marshwiggle, I guess the student doesn't know that the story has already been told very powerfully in several different media, Eyes on the Prize being one.

Another part of me thinks if there is an opera, this is a pretty good lead to have: https://operacarolina.org/cast-member/robert-mack/

[marshwiggle]

Part of me is confused. to marshwiggle, I guess the student doesn't know that the story has already been told very powerfully in several different media, Eyes on the Prize being one.

Maybe it's best if the student doesn't know that. Who knows which other versions might, on closer scrutiny, fail the purity test for one reason or another.

[Wahoo Redux]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

[marshwiggle]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

From the article:

Clayton Looney, a Management Information Systems (MIS) professor in the College of Business, came under fire this semester after racist remarks recorded on a door cam video and text screenshots circulated online. The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word. The texts capture him using racist language in messages to his now ex-wife.

I would guess the door with the door cam would belong to his ex-wife. If so, then all of this is related to personal interactions with family members. (And without firsthand knowledge of the situation, how family members communicate with each other can be very "idiosyncratic", to say the least.)

Not even remotely work-related.

[ciao_yall]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

From the article:

Clayton Looney, a Management Information Systems (MIS) professor in the College of Business, came under fire this semester after racist remarks recorded on a door cam video and text screenshots circulated online. The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word. The texts capture him using racist language in messages to his now ex-wife.

I would guess the door with the door cam would belong to his ex-wife. If so, then all of this is related to personal interactions with family members. (And without firsthand knowledge of the situation, how family members communicate with each other can be very "idiosyncratic", to say the least.)

Not even remotely work-related.

He called his wife and daughter a racist slur?

Yikes.

[mahagonny]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

From the article:

Clayton Looney, a Management Information Systems (MIS) professor in the College of Business, came under fire this semester after racist remarks recorded on a door cam video and text screenshots circulated online. The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word. The texts capture him using racist language in messages to his now ex-wife.

I would guess the door with the door cam would belong to his ex-wife. If so, then all of this is related to personal interactions with family members. (And without firsthand knowledge of the situation, how family members communicate with each other can be very "idiosyncratic", to say the least.)

Not even remotely work-related.

He called his wife and daughter a racist slur?

Yikes.

That's terrible. It was probably in the middle of an ugly argument. He yelled something like 'you Goddamned racist slur!'

The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word.

That's ridiculous. How can a person be a word?

[marshwiggle]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

From the article:

Clayton Looney, a Management Information Systems (MIS) professor in the College of Business, came under fire this semester after racist remarks recorded on a door cam video and text screenshots circulated online. The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word. The texts capture him using racist language in messages to his now ex-wife.

I would guess the door with the door cam would belong to his ex-wife. If so, then all of this is related to personal interactions with family members. (And without firsthand knowledge of the situation, how family members communicate with each other can be very "idiosyncratic", to say the least.)

Not even remotely work-related.

He called his wife and daughter a racist slur?

Yikes.

This is where context really matters. Within families sometimes people have all kinds of nicknames for each other which would sound offensive to people outside, but which among the family are terms of endearment (often related to some sort of historical in-joke).

(It's also not uncommon for close friends to use similarly "odd" ways of communicating with each other; it shouldn't be judged by outsiders who aren't familiar with their normal communication patterns.)

[jimbogumbo]

U of Montana steps away form post...caught on door-cam using racial slurs

From the article:

Clayton Looney, a Management Information Systems (MIS) professor in the College of Business, came under fire this semester after racist remarks recorded on a door cam video and text screenshots circulated online. The video, from August 2020, shows Looney calling his daughter the n-word. The texts capture him using racist language in messages to his now ex-wife.

I would guess the door with the door cam would belong to his ex-wife. If so, then all of this is related to personal interactions with family members. (And without firsthand knowledge of the situation, how family members communicate with each other can be very "idiosyncratic", to say the least.)

Not even remotely work-related.

He called his wife and daughter a racist slur?

Yikes.

This is where context really matters. Within families sometimes people have all kinds of nicknames for each other which would sound offensive to people outside, but which among the family are terms of endearment (often related to some sort of historical in-joke).

(It's also not uncommon for close friends to use similarly "odd" ways of communicating with each other; it shouldn't be judged by outsiders who aren't familiar with their normal communication patterns.)

Here is some context from an October article. Just read the second half for the flavor.

https://dailymontanan.com/2021/10/29/um-professor-discrimination-allegation-deemed-non-workplace-issue/

[marshwiggle]

Here is some context from an October article. Just read the second half for the flavor.

https://dailymontanan.com/2021/10/29/um-professor-discrimination-allegation-deemed-non-workplace-issue/

From the article:

This week, Looney said he was cleared after a review last semester by the UM Office of Equal Opportunity and Title IX, which handles discrimination complaints on campus. He also said the only two people who ever complained had never met him.

"In 15 years of service, no other student complaints have been filed against me"

Former UM student Ajaysia Hill said she sent screenshots of the messages she saw on Facebook last semester to UM President Seth Bodnar, who turned them over to the Title IX Office.

Hill, who has not taken classes with Looney, said she was not informed of the outcome of any investigation. However, she said she was concerned that Looney remained on faculty given UM's stated support for inclusion, and she said she does not believe diversity training can scrub the racism in the messages.

Translation: "I've never met this person, or had any contact, but he's clearly evil."

Some people really need hobbies.

[Wahoo Redux]

From the article:

In an email, Looney said the text messages in question were between him and his ex-wife, who is an African-American woman, and she posted them on Facebook when she was upset during a child custody dispute. He said the texts were not intended to be public and have been taken out of context.

Way to hand your ex an atom bomb during a war, buddy.

[marshwiggle]

From the article:

In an email, Looney said the text messages in question were between him and his ex-wife, who is an African-American woman, and she posted them on Facebook when she was upset during a child custody dispute. He said the texts were not intended to be public and have been taken out of context.

Way to hand your ex an atom bomb during a war, buddy.

But do you think they should be used to fire him from his employment?

[Wahoo Redux]

From the article:

In an email, Looney said the text messages in question were between him and his ex-wife, who is an African-American woman, and she posted them on Facebook when she was upset during a child custody dispute. He said the texts were not intended to be public and have been taken out of context.

Way to hand your ex an atom bomb during a war, buddy.

But do you think they should be used to fire him from his employment?

I have been stating from the get-go that it is very disturbing to me when corporate entities, including state institutions, can dictate what we say off the clock. 

In this case, however, I believe U of M issued a statement that these were events off-campus and therefore there were no Title IX or campus issues so no action was to be taken----and good for them!  Looney temporarily stepped down on his own because of student protest. 

Students claimed they felt "threatened" and challenged Looney's ability to grade fairly, even though he has a good record as an academic and was, weirdly enough, married to an African-American woman who posted his racial slurs on Facebook.

Free speech has consequences.  And for the record, I think Looney was well named for being a looney, moronic, racist, tone-deaf dumbass...but should the students have the ability to hound him from his job?...I dunno...

[marshwiggle]

In this case, however, I believe U of M issued a statement that these were events off-campus and therefore there were no Title IX or campus issues so no action was to be taken----and good for them! 

That's what I thought you'd say; I just wanted to confirm it.

Students claimed they felt "threatened" and challenged Looney's ability to grade fairly, even though he has a good record as an academic and was, weirdly enough, married to an African-American woman who posted his racial slurs on Facebook.

This is why I keep talking about context. I have NO IDEA whether, in their relationship, BEFORE things went south, if they used those kinds of terms regularly. (As I've repeated, people often use what would normally be considered insults as terms of endearment for special people; this may or may not apply in this case.)

ETA: Yes, sometimes those terms will not be appreciated after a relationship goes bad, but so will all kinds of communication, and it still has a very different meaning (ie. in reference to their relationship) than it would used in another context.

Free speech has consequences.  And for the record, I think Looney was well named for being a looney, moronic, racist, tone-deaf dumbass...but should the students have the ability to hound him from his job?...I dunno...

The meaning of the term "racist" is pretty murky in this case given that

• None of his students (of any ethnicity) have complained in 15 years.
• He married a black woman, and has mixed race daughters about whom he has said  "I love my daughters with every fiber of my being. They fill my heart with so much joy. I have, and will not hesitate to, put my own life at risk in order to preserve theirs. They are the most precious things in the world to me."

Tone-deaf? He only used the terms he did in private conversations with family, so had it not been for someone who had never met him digging around in his *Facebook posts, this would never have been an issue.


*I don't use Facebook or Twitter. Yes, people should know better than to ever put anything in any sort of online posting, email, etc. that could be damaging. But that's about being prudent, not about being virtuous.

[jimbogumbo]

I would say in the context of a custody battle it was way more than tone deaf.

[marshwiggle]

I would say in the context of a custody battle it was way more than tone deaf.

In court? In the presence of lawyers? Sure. In a one-on-one conversation? The tone of that conversation is completely defined by the relationship, and anything that is said will be interpreted according to that, no matter what language is used.