Judge throws out Thomas Klocek case against DePaul--appeal planned

This one hurts. A lot.

On September 15, 2004, longtime DePaul University adjunct Professor Thomas Klocek took part in a spirited out-of-classroom discussion with some Muslim DePaul students over Palestinian-Israeli political issues. Klocek defended Israeli actions against terrorists; the students, unaccustomed to having their views challenged, complained to his dean and succeeded in having Klocek dismissed from the Catholic college after 15 years of service.

The Chicago native had always received high evaluation scores from his students.

Klocek filed a defamation and invasion of privacy suit against DePaul a year later. The first two judges assigned to the case ruled that it should proceed to trial. But last month--four years after Klocek sued--Cook County Circuit Court Judge Charles Winkler dismissed the case.

Andy Norman of Chicago's Mauck & Baker is Klocek's attorney--he plans to appeal. Norman stated, "We believe that Winkler is in error and are confident we will have his decision reversed in the appellate court. We still look forward to a public trial where DePaul students and the public can judge for themselves whether certain administrators silenced Tom Klocek because a few Muslim activists wanted his opinions repressed."

I've spoken to Klocek many times about the events of September 15, 2004 and I'm firmly convinced that DePaul trashed his academic career to placate a noisy group of students who view themselves, wrongly, as a protected class.

Winkler is a graduate of DePaul's College of Law.

Related posts:

Sept 15: Second anniversary of the beginning of the Thomas Klocek affair

DePaul President Fr. Holtschneider: "Academic freedom is alive and well at DePaul"

CAIR-Chicago recommended that DePaul fire Klocek

Technorati tags: Chicago illinois college education DePaul Catholic free speech academic freedom Thomas Klocek Cook County law muslim Israel מדינת terrorism Palestine سياسی زنان