UCLA Scientist Fired for Not Being PC?
SodaHead News
2010/09/02 14:00:00
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Remember the bad old days of the PC Police? That halcyon time in the late '80s and early '90s when college campuses became hotbeds of rigid rules on speech, when you had to watch how you referred to any group or gender lest you get outed as a bigot, sexist or, perhaps worst of all, Neanderthal.
UCLA professor Dr. James Enstrom fears those times are upon us again. After more than 36 years as a non-tenured prof in the school’s public health department, the epidemiologist recently got the boot when his contract was not renewed because his research is “not aligned with the academic mission” of his department.
According to Fox News, Enstrom thinks he was shown the door simply because his views are “politically incorrect” and go against some commonly held views.
For instance, in 2003 he wrote a study published in the British Medical Journal that found a causal relationship between secondhand smoke and tobacco-related deaths. Now, keep in mind that conclusion goes against popular belief and research on the topic, but please note that his study was funded by, well, cigarette giant Philip Morris. So, that’s something.
But it was his most recent work in which he found no causal link between diesel soot and death in California that appear to have landed him in the doghouse. In addition to putting him in the minority again, the findings also conflicted with those of the California Air Resources Board, which argues that its new standards on diesel emissions will save 9,400 lives between 2011 and 2025 and reduce health care costs by up to $68 billion in the state.
The university said it can’t discuss personnel matters, but less than a month after Enstrom and some other scientists presented the Air Resources Board with their findings and he co-authored a June op-ed on the topic, he was told his contract would not be renewed.
Enstrom is appealing the decision and has filed a complaint under the UCLA Whistle Blower Protection Policies act.
Did Professor Enstrom Deserve to Be Fired?
UCLA professor Dr. James Enstrom fears those times are upon us again. After more than 36 years as a non-tenured prof in the school’s public health department, the epidemiologist recently got the boot when his contract was not renewed because his research is “not aligned with the academic mission” of his department.
According to Fox News, Enstrom thinks he was shown the door simply because his views are “politically incorrect” and go against some commonly held views.
For instance, in 2003 he wrote a study published in the British Medical Journal that found a causal relationship between secondhand smoke and tobacco-related deaths. Now, keep in mind that conclusion goes against popular belief and research on the topic, but please note that his study was funded by, well, cigarette giant Philip Morris. So, that’s something.
But it was his most recent work in which he found no causal link between diesel soot and death in California that appear to have landed him in the doghouse. In addition to putting him in the minority again, the findings also conflicted with those of the California Air Resources Board, which argues that its new standards on diesel emissions will save 9,400 lives between 2011 and 2025 and reduce health care costs by up to $68 billion in the state.
The university said it can’t discuss personnel matters, but less than a month after Enstrom and some other scientists presented the Air Resources Board with their findings and he co-authored a June op-ed on the topic, he was told his contract would not be renewed.
Enstrom is appealing the decision and has filed a complaint under the UCLA Whistle Blower Protection Policies act.
Did Professor Enstrom Deserve to Be Fired?
Top Opinion
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Fef 2010/09/02 16:21:55No, he was fired for his beliefs
+14Public schools and universities like UCLA have a political agenda and they won't let the truth or even the pursuit of the truth interfere with that agenda. Universities once allowed dissent and championed research contrary to the mainstream. Now the Left wants total conformity with its political beliefs.
Now HOW could THAT be bad for you to breathe?
Climate control has become a religion. Enstrom is being treated like Galileo.
The man needs to apply at Texas A&M; where he could merge with like minds.....
My wife died at age 63. You are celebrating because you made it to 60. Maybe you better delay the party a little while longer.
BTW, my wife's ex is still smoking and that old fossil is in his 70's now. Some have the constitution to resist it. Others don't.
My mother is a little less evangelical about lifetime variance between the so called good and the evil. She says some people have a long life because they are so mean that even the Devil doesn't want them.
And it's NOT psychological. I reacted that same way several times, when someone would light up, out of my sight, but where the smoke came into my lungs. Before I could even identify the smell as being cigarette, pipe or cigar smoke, I would be heading for the bathroom. Actually, if I see the cigarettes, I can hold out a while longer, as I brace for the feeling.
Some of these people will get it in the end at last, when Obama says, "Bend over, it's coming."