Our Views: No shackles on LSU experts?

Not surprisingly, LSU wants the taxpayer-funded settlement to ousted coastal researcher Ivor van Heerden to be the end of the matter.

“Since the issues between the sides have been resolved through amicable settlement, LSU will not engage in further debate of those issues. Such debate is no longer relevant, warranted or appropriate,” LSU President William Jenkins said.

But have the issues been settled? We question whether this settlement should be the end of the story.

The researcher was stripped of his deputy directorship at the LSU Hurricane Center, and he was told in late 2009 that his university contract would not be extended beyond the spring of 2010, court records show.

Van Heerden argued that LSU administrators dismantled his career because of his often-vitriolic criticisms of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers after the catastrophic failures of New Orleans’ levees during Hurricane Katrina.

Now, van Heerden calls the settlement a victory for academic freedom. If that’s the case, why should not LSU now engage in some degree of critical inquiry into what happened and why?

Political intervention at LSU, including the suppression of faculty and student activism, is as old as Huey P. Long. But it should not be forgotten that one of the purposes of a first-class research university is to bring talent to bear on the problems of Louisiana — world-class talent, the kind that can be outspoken and raise the tough issues about our challenges here.

The van Heerden fracas not only cost taxpayers $435,000 in a settlement. It earned LSU the criticism of the American Association of University Professors and raised anew the old question of what level of activism is permitted among LSU’s professors.

Given LSU’s history in those issues, we suspect that many in the faculty would find such a debate relevant, warranted and appropriate.

Comments

1) Comment by prbeav - 05/03/2013

Sorry, I meant "Integrity and justice and fairness."

2) Comment by prbeav - 04/03/2013

I agree with the Advocate regarding LSU. However, borrowing from Ralph Waldo Emerson, injustice “will speak out of stone walls.” The Advocate should examine it’s own integrity. For example, my letter to the editor published on December 1, 2012 was about We the People as defined in the US Constitution. It featured the sentence, “Practicing the preamble with integrity, my neighbor’s religion is as free to him/her and appreciable to me as mine.” However, the Advocate captioned my letter, “We need freedom from religion.” With that false lead, a neighbor castigated my heartfelt sharing through letters dating from 1995. After many submissions, the last a couple weeks ago, the Advocate has not allowed me to respond in any way. Integrity, justice, and fairness is suppressed by the Advocate; the Advocate does not support freedom of speech.

3) Comment by GardenVariety - 04/03/2013

Thank you, the Advocate! This matter is not settled, and I'm not sure why the otherwise stalwart Prof. Van Heerden agreed to this settlement. His book, THE STORM, is a monumental exposee of political, economic, and moral failure (intentional and unintentional). It also demonstrates what happens when people are ignorant of and when they actively dismiss the knowledge of actual experts.

4) Comment by InPVille - 04/03/2013

No Bighug! Just a week or so back there was a report of the state of New York going after a state employee for something or other. There are whistle blower laws on the book specifically because people are often punished by both companies and government who go after people who open up their mouth about something some public or private entity wants kept under a rug.

5) Comment by Bighug - 04/03/2013

This isn't the first time LSU has used our tax money to pay a professor who complained about the US government. Why isn't discussion about the wasting of our taxes by state employees relevant? Only in places like China, North Korea, Russia, and LSU are people punished for speaking out against the government. And with Jindal in power, the state of Louisiana.

6) Comment by Mildred Citizen - 04/03/2013

That's what happens when you fight the boys with the money. The Army Corps of Engineers wanted this guy gone! Now he's gone.

7) Comment by Stephen - 04/03/2013

Professor van Heerden has been fighting long and hard for academic freedom. He cannot do it all by himself. There are other issues where people at LSU who could say something are remaining quiet. The Assumption Parish Sink Hole, BP Oil Spill damage, and the depletion of our drinking water aquifers. Come on! Speak out!