Monday, May 01, 2006

DePaul prez Holtschneider co-winner of the Sheldon Award

And what is a Sheldon Award? It's named after a particularly spineless university president, Sheldon Hackney of the University of Pennsylvania for his anti-free speech conduct in the 1993 Water Buffalo Incident.

John Leo, columnist and editor for US News and World Report announced this year's winners today. And competition was fierce.

Sharing the award with Father Holtschneider of Chicago's DePaul University was Washington State University's V. Lane Rawlins.

Leo described Holtschneider and his West Coast twin Rawlins as the "Ruth and Gehrig of modern Sheldonism."

Here's what Leo had to say about Father Holtschneider and DePaul:

A veteran, part-time teacher with a good record, Thomas Klocek, was suspended without a hearing after a verbal run-in with pro-Palestinian students at a school fair. He refused an order to apologize, and balked at the university's plan to put a monitor in his classes. Then he sued.

The College Republicans were found guilty of violating a campus prohibition against "propaganda" after handing out fliers criticizing an upcoming lecture by radical professor Ward Churchill.

Sponsors of a mock bake sale satirizing affirmative action were hauled on the carpet. They were found not guilty of harassment, but then censured because the university said their application for table space was faulty. Holtschneider denounced the sale as "an affront to DePaul's values of respect and dignity."

Runners up for the Sheldon Award were the presidents of Penn State University, Georgia Tech University, and the University of Central Florida.

I'm willing to pick up Holtschneider's Sheldon trophy for him.

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