Her reinstatement was announced Monday in an e-mail to students, staff and faculty from university President T. Alan Hurwitz. “I personally look forward to working with Dr. McCaskill,” he said.It's no surprise that president Hurwitz backed down on proceeding on the removal of Dr. McCaskill after realizing Gallaudet University had no legal case against Dr. Angela McCaskill for removing her as Chief Diversity Officer. The moment she hired a lawyer in October last year and 5 days later president Hurwitz backpedaled furiously the comment he made earlier about the suspension truly showed which direction the case would go. It's no surprise that Dr. McCaskill retained her original position and title. Gallaudet University/Hurwitz had no case at all to begin with to act upon the faux pas suspension. Dr. Bienvenu had no case to go through this witch hunt in the effort to get her fired. In the end, Dr. McCaskill was most likely well compensated with Gallaudet University settling this out of court on what could've been a potentially expensive lawsuit. That's my guess. And something that Gallaudet University wouldn't have been able to financially afford the lawsuit and all of the continuing negativity - a potential PR nightmare for Gallaudet University. Firing her would've been the worse course of action. President Hurwitz and Gallaudet University's lawyers realized this. Glad this has been resolved before the start of school.
Hurwitz’s announcement said that many members of the school community had reached out to him in a “clearly heartfelt manner.” Recent weeks were “a period of reflection for all of us,” he said.
He also praised the “overall maturity” shown in the community’s willingness to consider the “differing views others may hold.”
There may have been some "overall maturity" shown in the community but there were enough of them who were quite vicious and very immature rather than to agree to disagree on differing views with respect and aplomb. We know who they are. Full of hate rather than full of introspection and respect of the situation. Witch hunts do not belong in the age of learning and enlightenment.
Classes will resume on January 22, 2013 with Dr. McCaskill back at work doing what she does best at her job. May the students and staff show their warm welcome for Dr. McCaskill's return. Time to move past this awful saga and snafu.
See previous blogs on the McCaskill/Gallaudet University snafu.
5 comments:
A small victory for common sense. But a larger victory in showing not even the gay or PC community can tell deaf what to think. It gives you some hope we can address the stupidity that is political correctness and the abuses of free speech under the guise of equality..
To be frank with you, I am deeply disappointed in President Hurwitz for in-versing on the petition that she signed for the sake of the citizen of Maryland. As for MJ Beinenvu, she has a PhD and can read the petition very carefully. But she decided to ignore it and wanted to get an attention to make Dr. McCaskill to look bad for no apparent reason.
IMO, I really think President Hurwitz, MJ Beinenvu and her partner need to issue the public apology to her and her family.
It's understandable that some gay Deaf ppl have experienced prejudice and discrimination in their lives. But it's not justification for railroading a Deaf person who's not gay and signs a petition for the Maryland legislature to consider what defines marriage. It's not justification to police any person's private thoughts and ruin his/her employment.
The Deaf community itself has exhibited a long streak of intolerance towards any member who dares to think differently and who dares to be of a different sexual stripe. It's a vicious circle that can only be broken by Deaf members with the backbone to say "Treat others as you would for yourself. Who'd want to be the subject of a witch hunt?".
Be careful what you wish for. Contributing to a personal witch hunt can bite you in the butt big-time.
The attempt to muzzle McCaskill ended up with the Chief Diversity Officer publicly exposing her accusers, with a lawyer at her side, and revealing the petition that she signed. She had a right to her own thoughts and a right to retain her job. She had to fight dirt with dirt, and she wasn't about to back down. Some Gally staff had to learn this lesson the hard way.
And college is supposed to be such a wonderful place of enlightening and intellectual exercise...jeez.
Ann_C
One could say he "caved" no matter which way he went. If he went in the other direction and fired McCaskill, he would have "caved" to the Bienvenu faction. Either way, he can't win. He should have used better judgment in the first place.
No, Tom. Hurwitz already caved first from Bienvenu faction pressuring him into doing something publicly to McCaskill (suspension). Bienvenu and her ilk made this into a public witch hunt event that already exposed McCaskill with the added pressure on Hurwitz to do something about it. It was rather unprofessional of her to do that. He did the wrong thing by suspending her, especially publicly, and said some wrong things in the first place. Hurwitz caved under the threat of a lawsuit that would have been damaging to the image of Gallaudet University as well financially damaging because McCaskill did have a strong case. Hurwitz had no case to pursue with on the option of firing her or removing her position based on signing a petition which is her constitutional right to do so. It's a protected free speech. Firing her would have been an act of bullying. I knew McCaskill would eventually be reinstated because Hurwtiz/Gallaudet University simply did not have a leg to stand on. Bienvenu's action backfired because she made this into a witch hunt that left a lot of bad taste on people's tongues. It backfired on Bienvenu making her out to be the bad person who acted unprofessionally giving her the appearance that she has an ax to grind against McCaskill. No one will listen to her the next time she squawks since she solidified her image as a person with a vengeance.
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