It took a while. A release from the University of Missouri – St. Louis:
Posted on May 9, 2011 by the UMSL Chancellor Tom George and Provost Glen Cope regarding the institution’s Labor Studies Program:
May 9, 2011
Dear Colleagues,
We have finally completed viewing the videos originating at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) from the UMSL course Introduction to Labor Studies. The excerpts that were made public showing the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) instructor Don Giljum and students as well as the UMKC instructor and students were definitely taken out of context, with their meaning highly distorted through splicing and editing from different times within a class period and across multiple class periods.
As stated previously, our campus supports academic freedom, civility, diversity, open discourse and the pursuit of knowledge. We support the academic freedom of faculty, staff and students at UMSL. Contrary to some reports, Don Giljum has not been fired from the campus faculty, and in fact, is completing the course; he remains eligible to teach at UMSL. We sincerely regret the distress to him and others that has been caused by the unauthorized copying, editing and distribution of the course videos.
During the past two weeks, we have received communications over a wide spectrum of viewpoints, and we appreciate people letting us know what they think. We have learned more about video and Internet technologies that can be beneficial or detrimental to positive, civil discourse, and security issues related to the use of such media. We shall explore ways to improve security in the use of electronic media for instruction, research and other activities.
Sincerely,
Tom George
Chancellor
Professor of Chemistry and PhysicsGlen Cope
Provost
Professor of Political Science and Public Policy Administration
[emphasis added]
You think the next time a right wingnut putz posts a video old media will ignore it? Not likely.
…to right wingnuts:
Who the hell is Dana Loesch, and why hasn’t she been fired from whatever job she has?
Academic freedom isn’t free.
Rachel Maddow reported last night the one of the Koch brothers has essentially purchased the right to choose faculty members for one of Florida’s public universities.
It’s time to push back HARD.