Wis. Lawmaker Wants Lecturer Fired For 9/11 Conspiracy Views

Wis. lawmaker wants lecturer fired for 9-11 conspiracy views

http://wfrv.com/wisconsinwire/WI--In...rces_news_html

(Gold9472: SUPPORT KEVIN BARRETT!!!)

Thursday June 29, 2006

MADISON, Wis. (AP) A state lawmaker is calling on the University of Wisconsin-Madison to fire a part-time instructor who has spoken out on his beliefs that figures in the U.S. government, not al-Qaida, were behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Kevin Barrett is scheduled to teach a class in the fall in the UW-Madison Department of Languages and Cultures of Asia, UW-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell confirmed in a statement Thursday.

But Farrell said Barrett's comments on a Milwaukee radio talk show "raised some legitimate concerns about the content and quality of instruction in his planned fall course, 'Islam: Religion and Culture.'''

During his appearance Wednesday night on Jessica McBride's show on WTMJ, Barrett disputed most of the widely accepted information about the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center in New York City when airliners were flown into the twin towers.

Among other things, he claimed the group believed to have carried out the attacks was ``a bunch of losers who couldn't even fly planes,'' and that evidence indicates the buildings were brought down by controlled demolitions.

He acknowledged discussing Sept. 11 in teaching classes, but said it was only to give both sides of the issue, not to convert anyone to his point of view.

"I'm trying to teach them how to think, not what to think,'' he told McBride.

On Thursday, state Rep. Stephen Nass, R-Whitewater, issued a statement demanding Barrett be fired immediately, calling him an embarrassment and accusing him of spewing "garbage.''

"Mr. Barrett is free to stand on the street corner and advocate his nutty left-wing views. However, the taxpayers and tuition-paying families shouldn't pay this man one cent to perform his voodoo in a UW classroom,'' Nass' statement read.

Farrell said UW officials would give Barrett's course plans a close review.

"We plan to meet with Mr. Barrett to discuss those plans, review his syllabus, his reading list and examine past supervisor and student evaluations. We expect to complete this process within 10 working days,'' he said.

"Mr. Barrett is entitled to his own personal political views. But we also have an obligation to ensure that his course content is academically appropriate, of high quality, and that his personal views are not imposed on his students.''

There was no immediate response when The Associated Press left a message at a phone listing for Kevin J. Barrett on Thursday night and also tried all other similar listings for comment from him.

According to Farrell, Barrett accepted a one-semester appointment as an associate lecturer beginning Aug. 28. He termed it a 50 percent appointment with a salary of $8,247.

He said Barrett received his doctorate from UW-Madison in 2004 in African languages and literature and folklore, and has taught only one other course since that time at UW-Madison.

This fall's course would be the first taught by Barrett on Islam at UW-Madison, he said.

Barrett also is scheduled to teach in the fall at Edgewood College, a private liberal arts college in Madison.

Ed Taylor, an Edgewood College spokesman, said Barrett was a part-time adjunct faculty member due to teach a class in the fall called "Topics in Human Issues: Challenge of Islam.''

Is this what they're using to shut people up? "Professor Fetzer, is it true that people are teaching 9/11 in schools?" Where have I heard that before?

Provost’s statement regarding lecturer Kevin Barrett

http://www.news.wisc.edu/12696.html

June 29, 2006

University of Wisconsin-Madison Provost Patrick Farrell issued the following statement in regard to radio talk show statements made Wednesday, June 28, by Kevin Barrett, who is scheduled to teach a class this fall in the department of languages and cultures of Asia:

"Mr. Barrett's statements regarding the events of Sept. 11 have raised some legitimate concerns about the content and quality of instruction in his planned fall course, 'Islam: Religion and Culture.'

"My office, along with officials in the College of Letters and Science and his department, will immediately undertake a review of his plans for teaching this course and his past teaching performance. We plan to meet with Mr. Barrett to discuss those plans, review his syllabus, his reading list and examine past supervisor and student evaluations. We expect to complete this process within 10 working days.

"Mr. Barrett is entitled to his own personal political views. But we also have an obligation to ensure that his course content is academically appropriate, of high quality, and that his personal views are not imposed on his students."

Barrett has accepted a one-semester appointment as an associate lecturer beginning on Aug. 28. This is a 50 percent appointment that has a salary of $8,247. Barrett received his Ph.D. from UW-Madison in 2004 in African languages and literature and folklore, and has taught only one other course since that time at UW-Madison. This fall would be the first time Mr. Barrett taught a course on Islam at UW-Madison.

I hope we really get some follow up on this one. I mean, the world is full of assholes, for all I know, I could be one of them. And more than a few of those assholes might not believe the official story. But c'mon, they're gettign so desperate to quell this that they will cost people their livelyhood? Asshole or not, I hope this dude has money for a good lawyer!

It's showing up all over the place!!! THANK YOU REP. NASS YOU DUMBASS!!!

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=445190
http://www.channel3000.com/news/9450576/detail.html
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=5098641
http://cbs2chicago.com/wisconsinwire...rces_news_html
http://wcco.com/wisconsinwire/WI--In...rces_news_html
http://wfrv.com/wisconsinwire/WI--In...rces_news_html
http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/du...s/14933300.htm

Ward Churchill is pretty much just waiting for the axe to fall and finally sever him from Colorado Uni. He had tenure, and didn't even doubt the official narrative.

I don't see much hope for this chap.

For Kevin? I disagree. A lot of people within the movement like, and support the work of Kevin Barrett... Rep. Nass picked the wrong guy to single out...

wow - these people are such followers. They don't even know why they do the things they do (like trying to fire this guy - as if they have actually performed an analysis of 9/11 and come up with their own conclusions that they guy is a nut). As usual - NAY! as ALWAYS...the 9/11 truther comes armed with analysis to do battle against the 'believers', who have nothing but Faith in their government.

Did any of that even make sense? I just know I get pissed off at stories of Real people drowning in a sea of Lemmings.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uber Commandante

wow - these people are such followers. They don't even know why they do the things they do (like trying to fire this guy - as if they have actually performed an analysis of 9/11 and come up with their own conclusions that they guy is a nut). As usual - NAY! as ALWAYS...the 9/11 truther comes armed with analysis to do battle against the 'believers', who have nothing but Faith in their government.

Did any of that even make sense? I just know I get pissed off at stories of Real people drowning in a sea of Lemmings.

---

Sure you made sense. How can someone dismiss a 9/11 Truther without even having looked at any of the information?

It's like paying a bill without knowing the amount.

Sept. 11 claim stirs UW probe
Instructor says U.S. planned the attacks to provoke war

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=445190

Posted: June 29, 2006
By MEGAN TWOHEY
mtwohey@journalsentinel.com

The University of Wisconsin-Madison announced Thursday that it would launch a review of an instructor who argues that the U.S. government orchestrated the Sept. 11 attacks for its own benefit.

The instructor, Kevin Barrett, is co-founder of an organization called the Muslim-Jewish-Christian Alliance, which claims the Bush administration planned the attacks to create a war between Muslims and Christians. He argues that members of the faiths must work together to overcome the belief that terrorists were to blame.

"The 9/11 lie was designed to sow hatred between the faiths," Barrett has written on the organization's Web site.

"Either we discuss the compelling evidence that 9/11 was an inside job, or there is precious little to talk about."

Barrett, who did not return calls Thursday and an e-mail seeking comment, has taught a class on cultural folklore and is scheduled to teach an introductory class on Islam this fall in Madison. He has said he discusses his views on Sept. 11 in the classroom.

In a written statement Thursday, Provost Patrick Farrell said the university would conduct a 10-day review of Barrett's plans for the fall course and his past teaching performance. He said Barrett's syllabus, reading list and past evaluations by supervisors and students would be examined.

"Mr. Barrett's statements regarding the events of Sept. 11 have raised some legitimate concerns about the content and quality of instruction in his planned fall course," Farrell said.

"Mr. Barrett is entitled to his own personal political views. But we also have an obligation to ensure that his course content is academically appropriate, of high quality, and that his personal views are not imposed on his students," the statement says.

Word spreads on the Web
The announcement came as word of Barrett's views spread through political Web sites. State Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater) was among a burst of critics calling for his dismissal.

Other Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists in academia include Steven Jones, a physicist from Brigham Young University who argues that the World Trade Center towers were brought down by controlled explosives, not just the impact of airplanes; James H. Fetzer, a retired philosophy professor from the University of Minnesota-Duluth who believes the U.S. military launched a missile into the Pentagon and shot down the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania; and David Ray Griffin, a retired professor from the Claremont School of Theology who sums up arguments for U.S. involvement in the attacks in two books, "The New Pearl Harbor" and "The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions."

Barrett arranged for Griffin to speak at UW-Madison last year. Barrett also helped organize a conference in Chicago this month called "9/11: Revealing the Truth - Reclaiming Our Future." In July, he and Fetzer are scheduled to speak about the Sept. 11 theories at a forum at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"We're catching on," said Fetzer, who co-chairs the group 9/11 Scholars for Truth, which includes more than 50 members from academia, including Barrett. "Kevin Barrett has been instrumental on many fronts."

Barrett has shared his views in letters to The Capital Times and The Chronicle of Higher Education and has discussed them on Wisconsin Public Radio.

But it wasn't until he spoke on a conservative talk show hosted by Jessica McBride on WTMJ-AM (620) Wednesday night that Barrett prompted a public outcry in Wisconsin. He talked openly about his Sept. 11 beliefs and said he discussed them in the classroom.

'Outlandish claims'
Nass released a statement calling on Chancellor John Wiley to fire Barrett immediately.

"The fact that Mr. Barrett uses his position at UW-Madison to add credibility to his outlandish claims is an unacceptable embarrassment to the people of Wisconsin and the UW System," Nass said. "Chancellor Wiley must act immediately to end any professional relationship between Barrett and the UW. He needs to be fired."

U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.), who is running for governor, released a statement that said: "Not a dime of either taxpayer or tuition dollars should be going to Kevin Barrett so he can tell students that September 11 was a creation of the government, and that the most murdering terrorist organization in the world is a myth created by the CIA."

But not everyone was outraged.

Mir Babar Basir, a recent graduate of UW-Madison who served as president of the Muslim Students Association, said he knew Barrett and agreed with his take on the attacks. He said Griffin drew hundreds of supportive observers when he spoke at the university.

"This is not just Kevin Barrett's idea," Basir said. "It's legitimate to think that the U.S. government was involved."

"When David Ray Griffin spoke, it was packed," Basir added. "Madison is fairly liberal. It's not surprising that a lot of people agreed with him."

David Walsh, president of the UW System Board of Regents, said Barrett should be able to share his views in the classroom.

"Unless he's yelling fire in a crowded theater, we need to be careful to protect his academic freedom," Walsh said.