DePaul "digs in its heels" on Klocek

Scott Jaschik writes about Dr. Thomas Klocek in today's edition of Inside Higher Ed.

Here are some interesting excerpts:

"Klocek also isn’t afraid of letting people know that... he’s taught at DePaul for 15 years, and received strong student evaluations during that period..."

It goes on...

According to Klocek, he looked at some of the materials being given out by the pro-Palestinian group and argued with some of its members about what the materials said. “I tried to remind them of a number of perspectives, the Christian perspectives, on the conflict,” he said. Klocek, who is Roman Catholic, said that he considers himself a supporter of Israel, but that his main point that day was to point out the terrorist acts committed by Palestinians.

Klocek acknowledges that “there was a certain amount of raised voices,” especially when four students from the Muslim group joined the four students from the Palestinian group in debating him. But he said “no one was pushed or shoved or threatened.”

According to Klocek, he eventually decided to leave and made a gesture ("thumbing of my chin") to indicate “I’m out of here.” The students reported that the gesture was obscene.

Denise Mattson, a spokeswoman for DePaul, described the dispute in a different way. She said that the students noticed Klocek before he stopped by their table, walking back and forth and “acting in an odd way.” Once he arrived at the table, he was ‘belligerent” and “menacing,” Mattson said, shaking and pointing his finger very close to students’ faces. He was so threatening that other students who were present “ran to get help from staff, saying that students were being attacked by a professor.”

Mattson said no physical attack took place, and that the closest anything came to it was when Klocek threw some of the materials he picked up back at the students. And she said that Klocek returned to the activities fair even after university officials asked him to leave.
She said that the subject of the argument had nothing to do with the university’s concern. “It could have been about anything,” she said. “DePaul took action because we had to protect our students.”

Okay, there is always more than one side to a story, as best exemplified in the classic Akira Kurosawa film Rashomon.

I'm going to side with Dr. Klocek on this. Fifteen years on the job, with mostly positive feedback. A wise administation would side with the professor too.

Let me return to one of Denise Mattson's comments: “DePaul took action because we had to protect our students.”

And Denise admits "no physical attack took place."

Klocek, did point a finger, though.

Question for you, Denise: What did these students need protection from? Do they need to be protected from viewpoints that they disagree with???? Do they need to be protected from the holocaust denial professor, Norman Finkelstein, too?

Denise can be contacted via various methods, shown below. As always, please use this information responsibly.

Denise Mattson
Assistant Vice President for Public Relations
Phone: (312) 362-6225
Cell: (312) 420-9637
E-mail: dmattson@depaul.edu