Sara sent me this link to a blog post about a tenure decision at U of Michigan involving Peter Hammer, who was denied tenure there and has decided to sue because he believes he was discriminated against because he identifies as gay. Blogger Dean Dad’s take:
I don’t know Hammer or his work. Whether he deserved tenure or not, I don’t know. But the issues raised by this case are mind-boggling. It would be easy to pick up the flag of one side (“homophobia is real and despicableâ€) or the other (“now we have thought police?â€), but that would miss the point. Both sides are right. The nature of the tenure system drives this conflict. That’s the real story.
Because of high traffic, I can’t read the original IHE article, but it’s a pretty interesting case, I think. I don’t really have a take on the issue, as I haven’t read the IHE article; of course, not giving tenure to someone because he’s gay is awful, but proving that was the case is hard, especially when, according to the IHE article, quoted by Dean Dad:
The theory of the case is that you are dealing with this very strong combination of religion and family values. You’ve got to get inside somebody’s mind and present it in a way that can be objectively verified. You are looking for something that is so often invisible and shrouded in secrecy.
