Professor fired for quoting from Mark Twain

[Langue_doc]

A professor was fired for quoting from Mark Twain.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9582675/St-Johns-professor-fired-quoted-N-word-reading-Mark-Twain-novel.html

https://www.foxnews.com/us/st-johns-professor-allegedly-fired-for-reading-racial-slur-from-mark-twain-book

[marshwiggle]

A professor was fired for quoting from Mark Twain.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9582675/St-Johns-professor-fired-quoted-N-word-reading-Mark-Twain-novel.html

https://www.foxnews.com/us/st-johns-professor-allegedly-fired-for-reading-racial-slur-from-mark-twain-book

The student who had to leave the classroom after hearing "the word" better stay away from all rap and hip-hop music; hearing it repeated several times would probably cause a coronary.

[RatGuy]

The post I first say listed Fischthal as a "supplement professor," which is a term I don't know. Does that mean she was an adjunct or PTF?

One of my first years at my current institution, I taught Huck Finn. To preface that, I showed students this 60 Minutes segment on the novel and an Alabama publisher who issued an edition of the novel with the n-word replaced with "slave." At the time, I figured it might be controversial with some students, but I didn't think other departmental faculty would. My new-faculty mentor explained that some faculty, especially in the English department, strongly discouraged the use of white instructors actually saying the n-word when reading from the novel. As in, "don't." I said the word in the context of the novel, and there didn't seem to be too much problem at my predominately white institution. That said, I wonder if I'd have to change my approach now, if I taught that novel again.

[downer]

Other news sources lists her as adjunct.

It is interesting that if you search for Fischthal on the college website, you get no results -- after 20 years of teaching there. They must have erased every trace.

I'm not sure that I believe either the Daily Mail or Fox News, or the NY Post in their reporting. I don't see reporting on the issue from more reliable sources.

[marshwiggle]

Other news sources lists her as adjunct.

It is interesting that if you search for Fischthal on the college website, you get no results -- after 20 years of teaching there. They must have erased every trace.

I'm not sure that I believe either the Daily Mail or Fox News, or the NY Post in their reporting. I don't see reporting on the issue from more reliable sources.

So do you believe she never taught there, or that she was terminated for some completely different reason?  In other words, what specifically are you "not sure" you believe?

[downer]

She taught there -- she is rated by students at RMP as very nice and very easy.

[mahagonny]

The post I first say listed Fischthal as a "supplement professor," which is a term I don't know. Does that mean she was an adjunct or PTF?

One of my first years at my current institution, I taught Huck Finn. To preface that, I showed students this 60 Minutes segment on the novel and an Alabama publisher who issued an edition of the novel with the n-word replaced with "slave." At the time, I figured it might be controversial with some students, but I didn't think other departmental faculty would. My new-faculty mentor explained that some faculty, especially in the English department, strongly discouraged the use of white instructors actually saying the n-word when reading from the novel. As in, "don't." I said the word in the context of the novel, and there didn't seem to be too much problem at my predominately white institution. That said, I wonder if I'd have to change my approach now, if I taught that novel again.

When I was in ninth grade of high school our English teacher explained that our reading the word or her saying it during class was not to be taken as endorsement of it. She thought, correctly, that we were grown up enough to understand the common use of the word in the culture and time of the work. We all understood the potent antiracism of the work and the author. Ninth grade, decades ago, public school.
How far we have come.

Other news sources lists her as adjunct.

It is interesting that if you search for Fischthal on the college website, you get no results -- after 20 years of teaching there. They must have erased every trace.

I'm not sure that I believe either the Daily Mail or Fox News, or the NY Post in their reporting. I don't see reporting on the issue from more reliable sources.

So do you believe she never taught there, or that she was terminated for some completely different reason?  In other words, what specifically are you "not sure" you believe?

I don't believe that a representative of the school denied that the adjunct professor's employment ended because of this incident. They are generally so honest about their reasons for such decisions. [eye roll]

The same people who think someone must be fired anytime someone claims to be upset are advertising the necessity of inflicting what they think are 'difficult conversations' on white people. They're actually not difficult in the way that is expected. More like painful to hear, because they are so idiotic and formulated.

[Langue_doc]

Other news sources lists her as adjunct.

It is interesting that if you search for Fischthal on the college website, you get no results -- after 20 years of teaching there. They must have erased every trace.

I'm not sure that I believe either the Daily Mail or Fox News, or the NY Post in their reporting. I don't see reporting on the issue from more reliable sources.

For local news, many of us rely on the NY Post and the NY Daily News as the NY Times reports only selectively on some of the local news, and only after seeing the news on the Post or the Daily News.

The NY Times did report on a similar situation at Rutgers where a student had to apologize for quoting from a legal document. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/03/nyregion/Rutgers-law-school-n-word.html

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/04/rutgers-law-students-quotation-racial-slur-spurs-debate

ETA A story in one of my courses includes the n-word. I usually ask the students to use one of two synonyms in their discussions and their written assignments. I might not use this story anymore as students could object to seeing the word in print.

[downer]

We might well never find out any more than we have. Clearly the university is going to be tight lipped about it, unless forced to be honest and open. I'm sure the dept chair is under strict instructions to say nothing. I doubt that faculty who are already worried about job security are going to make a fuss.

If you have to rely on the NY Post though, then you just can't be sure of any details.

It would be helpful if Dept Chairs would send out a list of banned words at the start of the semester. But paradoxically, they would then be fired for using the words. I guess they will just have to stick with allusions to the words.

[Parasaurolophus]

The use-mention distinction is hard for some to grasp--but, also, most people need to be explicitly introduced to it.

From the information given, it sounds to me like she did nothing particularly wrong (although perhaps she should have said something before quoting--though maybe that was part of the 'contextualization'?), and like her response to the complaints was perfectly appropriate.

That said, you can quote, and you can quote with relish and glee. The latter would be inappropriate.

[mahagonny]

We might well never find out any more than we have. Clearly the university is going to be tight lipped about it, unless forced to be honest and open. I'm sure the dept chair is under strict instructions to say nothing. I doubt that faculty who are already worried about job security are going to make a fuss.

If tenure did what it purports to do i.e. stand up for academic freedom, we'd be hearing lots about it. And it doesn't fail to do that because too few have it. It fails because too many who have it don't have the guts to stand for a principle.

It would be helpful if Dept Chairs would send out a list of banned words at the start of the semester. But paradoxically, they would then be fired for using the words. I guess they will just have to stick with allusions to the words.

Just to be safe I think I'll refer to it as "the you-know-what word." Or do I need to worry about someone being unnecessarily upset at having been reminded that there are such words?

Pat Paulsen: we need censorship because, as we all understand, there is always the danger of something being said.

ETA: 

The student who had to leave the classroom after hearing "the word" better stay away from all rap and hip-hop music; hearing it repeated several times would probably cause a coronary.

I don't think so. I think that experience might cause increased dopamine levels. It's a white guilt inducer, which leads to temporary spiritual cleansing.

[marshwiggle]

ETA A story in one of my courses includes the n-word. I usually ask the students to use one of two synonyms in their discussions and their written assignments. I might not use this story anymore as students could object to seeing the word in print.

It would be helpful if Dept Chairs would send out a list of banned words at the start of the semester. But paradoxically, they would then be fired for using the words. I guess they will just have to stick with allusions to the words.

And here we thought Harry Potter was fiction where words (incantations, curses, etc.) could be used (and forbidden) as actual weapons. Maybe, from HP, we could use the phrase "The-Word-That-Cannot-Be-Alluded-To", but then of course, it couldn't be used because it does, in fact allude to "The Word".

[dismalist]

If it's only woids,it'll never end.

We need to re-institute the Index Librorum Prohibitorum to keep track of whole books which can or cannot be read, or thought.

[marshwiggle]

If it's only woids,it'll never end.

We need to re-institute the Index Librorum Prohibitorum to keep track of whole books which can or cannot be read, or thought.

But even listing the names of those books is dangerous, because people will know what to look for. Better to just have the Ministry of Truth control what books can be sold or kept in libraries.

[dismalist]

If it's only woids,it'll never end.

We need to re-institute the Index Librorum Prohibitorum to keep track of whole books which can or cannot be read, or thought.

But even listing the names of those books is dangerous, because people will know what to look for. Better to just have the Ministry of Truth control what books can be sold or kept in libraries.

Well, yeah, the list has to be kept secret, duh!