R
Roger
Guest
Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University
Posted on June 11, 2012 by Anthony Watts
Gordon Fulks sends this summary of the situation and asks that it be
distributed. Im happy to oblige. For some background on Dr. Drapelas
skeptical views, this slideshow Global Warming Cracked Open might
give some insight into OSUs booting him out. Anthony
==========================================================
From Gordon Fulks:
Hello Everyone,
In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion
of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. A wide range of ideas
are openly discussed. The most viable rise to the top and the least
viable fade away. But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates
under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable
to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are
eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological
purity.
OSU is not yet as swift or efficient as the Soviet system when Joseph
Stalin was trying to quash dissent among biologists who refused to go
along with Trofim Lysenko. If warnings to compromise their integrity
were not followed, Stalin simply had biologists shot. That quickly
thinned the ranks of all biologists and persuaded the remaining ones
to comply with Stalins wishes. Of course, it also destroyed Soviet
biology, because Lysenko was pedaling nonsense. And Russian biology
has never recovered.
We learned over the weekend that chemist Nickolas Drapela, PhD has
been summarily fired from his position as a Senior Instructor in the
Department of Chemistry. The department chairman Richard Carter told
him that he was fired but would not provide any reason. Subsequent
attempts to extract a reason from the OSU administration have been
stonewalled. Drapela appears to have been highly competent and well-
liked by his students. Some have even taken up the fight to have him
reinstated.
What could possibly have provoked the OSU administration to take
precipitous action against one of their academics who has been on
their staff for ten years, just bought a house in Corvallis, and has
four young children (one with severe medical problems)? Dr. Drapela is
an outspoken critic of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, the
official religion of the State of Oregon, the Oregon Democratic Party,
and Governor John Kitzhaber.
Five years ago, Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor went around
quietly saying that he was not a believer. Then Governor Ted
Kulongoski and many faculty at OSU including Dr. Jane Lubchenco made
life impossible for Taylor, and he retired. (Lubchenco is now head of
NOAA in the Obama administration.) Under those currently in charge,
OSU climate research has grown to be a huge business, reportedly $90
million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic
support for climate hysteria. A small army of researchers ponder the
effects of Global Warming on all sorts of things from tube worms
living along the Oregon Coast to butterflies inland. When the climate
refuses to warm (as it has for the last twenty years), they just study
warming in reverse! Most of us call that cooling, but they are
very careful not to upset their Obama administration contract monitors
with politically incorrect terminology.
Skeptics of Global Warming who oppose the OSU approach and oppose the
politicians who make it all possible but do not work for OSU also find
themselves attacked. Dr. Art Robinson who is running against Peter
DeFazio for an Oregon Congressional seat found three of his children
under attack at OSU. All were attempting to obtain advanced degrees in
the Nuclear Engineering Department and were threatened with dismissal.
Because Robinson fought back, we understand that the OSU
administration backed down.
As to the latest victim of political correctness at OSU, Dr. Nickolas
Drapela gives us an excellent synopsis of what is going on:
The fact of the matter is that it is now two weeks since I was fired
and no one has had the cajones or the common courtesy to even tell me
why. I have spoken with the Dept. Chair (Rich Carter) who fired me,
and he refused to tell me why. I spoke to the Dean of Science (Vince
Remcho) and he couldnt tell me why. I spoke to HR who set up a
meeting with me, then cancelled it an hour before. Then I went to the
Vice President of Academic Affairs (Becky Warner) and she sent me back
to Rich Carter, the chemistry chair.
Its just a sad, sad state of affairs that an institution like OSU
would fire a good employee for (ostensibly) no reason and then run
around and hide from the person they fired. I had stellar teaching
evaluations, I won College of Science awards for teaching, and
published textbooks. My class sections were always full and I was well-
liked by students (see ratemyprofessors.com). I was doing my job very
well. But I guess I didnt march in step with their philosophies.
There were quite a few student protests over this at OSU (Barometer,
Facebook, etc.) but to no avail.
I was given no severance and had no warning this was about to happen.
In fact, I was lured into the chairs office under the guise of a
fallacious story before being fired.
As you know, I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the
Global Warming doctrine at OSU. I gave several public talks on the
topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the
web. I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area. I think they
finally just said, we cant have this.
Can it be that a university whose motto is Open minds. Open doors
cannot abide even one faculty member who disagrees with their dogma? I
suppose I am too naive, but Im still reeling from it. Unbelievable.
I should say that they regularly read all my email communications,
which is why I am writing from this private email address. That has
been going on for quite some time now.
As far as my options at this point, like I said I havent even really
grasped what has just happened. I dont know what Im going to do, or
what options I have yet. Im sure OSU wants their story to be tight
and perfectly identical among all administration before coming out
with an official reason why I was fired, hence the long wait and
refusal to speak to me.
I truly thank you for your concern, and I hope there is some recourse,
even just for the sake of exposing what is happening at OSU.
In a separate e-mail Drapela went on to say:
Thanks so much for your support and your concern. Thats really nice.
My students were all really upset about it. They started an email
writing campaign to have me re-hired but I guess no one cares what
they think.
I find that the people who want to keep things secret all the time are
usually the people that have something to hide. It is certainly ok by
me for you to disseminate this story. But Im sure OSU would be
horrified.
Im not sure how I will support my family at this point. We just
bought a house in Corvallis. I have four kids, one of whom has a rare,
blood disorder and requires regular trips to Doernbechers Childrens
Hospital for treatment. Now we will be without health insurance.
We can only speculate as to how the decision to fire Drapela was made.
Unlike the decision to force Taylor out (which came from the
governors office), this decision was likely internal to OSU with the
implicit backing of Governor Kitzhaber and NOAA administrator
Lubchenco. I would suspect that Dr. Phil Mote (Director of their
Climate Change Research Institute) had a hand in the decision, because
he has previously been highly intolerant of those who oppose his ideas
and could potentially threaten his business empire.
Please join with me in supporting Nick Drapela. Please join with me in
supporting objective science, as well as academic freedom, diversity,
and tolerance. The issues here go far beyond just Global Warming and
strike at the very heart of who we are as scientists and Americans.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD (Physics)
Corbett, Oregon USA
P.S. Please circulate this e-mail far and wide. The world needs to
know what is going on here.
Posted on June 11, 2012 by Anthony Watts
Gordon Fulks sends this summary of the situation and asks that it be
distributed. Im happy to oblige. For some background on Dr. Drapelas
skeptical views, this slideshow Global Warming Cracked Open might
give some insight into OSUs booting him out. Anthony
==========================================================
From Gordon Fulks:
Hello Everyone,
In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion
of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. A wide range of ideas
are openly discussed. The most viable rise to the top and the least
viable fade away. But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates
under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable
to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are
eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological
purity.
OSU is not yet as swift or efficient as the Soviet system when Joseph
Stalin was trying to quash dissent among biologists who refused to go
along with Trofim Lysenko. If warnings to compromise their integrity
were not followed, Stalin simply had biologists shot. That quickly
thinned the ranks of all biologists and persuaded the remaining ones
to comply with Stalins wishes. Of course, it also destroyed Soviet
biology, because Lysenko was pedaling nonsense. And Russian biology
has never recovered.
We learned over the weekend that chemist Nickolas Drapela, PhD has
been summarily fired from his position as a Senior Instructor in the
Department of Chemistry. The department chairman Richard Carter told
him that he was fired but would not provide any reason. Subsequent
attempts to extract a reason from the OSU administration have been
stonewalled. Drapela appears to have been highly competent and well-
liked by his students. Some have even taken up the fight to have him
reinstated.
What could possibly have provoked the OSU administration to take
precipitous action against one of their academics who has been on
their staff for ten years, just bought a house in Corvallis, and has
four young children (one with severe medical problems)? Dr. Drapela is
an outspoken critic of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, the
official religion of the State of Oregon, the Oregon Democratic Party,
and Governor John Kitzhaber.
Five years ago, Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor went around
quietly saying that he was not a believer. Then Governor Ted
Kulongoski and many faculty at OSU including Dr. Jane Lubchenco made
life impossible for Taylor, and he retired. (Lubchenco is now head of
NOAA in the Obama administration.) Under those currently in charge,
OSU climate research has grown to be a huge business, reportedly $90
million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic
support for climate hysteria. A small army of researchers ponder the
effects of Global Warming on all sorts of things from tube worms
living along the Oregon Coast to butterflies inland. When the climate
refuses to warm (as it has for the last twenty years), they just study
warming in reverse! Most of us call that cooling, but they are
very careful not to upset their Obama administration contract monitors
with politically incorrect terminology.
Skeptics of Global Warming who oppose the OSU approach and oppose the
politicians who make it all possible but do not work for OSU also find
themselves attacked. Dr. Art Robinson who is running against Peter
DeFazio for an Oregon Congressional seat found three of his children
under attack at OSU. All were attempting to obtain advanced degrees in
the Nuclear Engineering Department and were threatened with dismissal.
Because Robinson fought back, we understand that the OSU
administration backed down.
As to the latest victim of political correctness at OSU, Dr. Nickolas
Drapela gives us an excellent synopsis of what is going on:
The fact of the matter is that it is now two weeks since I was fired
and no one has had the cajones or the common courtesy to even tell me
why. I have spoken with the Dept. Chair (Rich Carter) who fired me,
and he refused to tell me why. I spoke to the Dean of Science (Vince
Remcho) and he couldnt tell me why. I spoke to HR who set up a
meeting with me, then cancelled it an hour before. Then I went to the
Vice President of Academic Affairs (Becky Warner) and she sent me back
to Rich Carter, the chemistry chair.
Its just a sad, sad state of affairs that an institution like OSU
would fire a good employee for (ostensibly) no reason and then run
around and hide from the person they fired. I had stellar teaching
evaluations, I won College of Science awards for teaching, and
published textbooks. My class sections were always full and I was well-
liked by students (see ratemyprofessors.com). I was doing my job very
well. But I guess I didnt march in step with their philosophies.
There were quite a few student protests over this at OSU (Barometer,
Facebook, etc.) but to no avail.
I was given no severance and had no warning this was about to happen.
In fact, I was lured into the chairs office under the guise of a
fallacious story before being fired.
As you know, I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the
Global Warming doctrine at OSU. I gave several public talks on the
topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the
web. I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area. I think they
finally just said, we cant have this.
Can it be that a university whose motto is Open minds. Open doors
cannot abide even one faculty member who disagrees with their dogma? I
suppose I am too naive, but Im still reeling from it. Unbelievable.
I should say that they regularly read all my email communications,
which is why I am writing from this private email address. That has
been going on for quite some time now.
As far as my options at this point, like I said I havent even really
grasped what has just happened. I dont know what Im going to do, or
what options I have yet. Im sure OSU wants their story to be tight
and perfectly identical among all administration before coming out
with an official reason why I was fired, hence the long wait and
refusal to speak to me.
I truly thank you for your concern, and I hope there is some recourse,
even just for the sake of exposing what is happening at OSU.
In a separate e-mail Drapela went on to say:
Thanks so much for your support and your concern. Thats really nice.
My students were all really upset about it. They started an email
writing campaign to have me re-hired but I guess no one cares what
they think.
I find that the people who want to keep things secret all the time are
usually the people that have something to hide. It is certainly ok by
me for you to disseminate this story. But Im sure OSU would be
horrified.
Im not sure how I will support my family at this point. We just
bought a house in Corvallis. I have four kids, one of whom has a rare,
blood disorder and requires regular trips to Doernbechers Childrens
Hospital for treatment. Now we will be without health insurance.
We can only speculate as to how the decision to fire Drapela was made.
Unlike the decision to force Taylor out (which came from the
governors office), this decision was likely internal to OSU with the
implicit backing of Governor Kitzhaber and NOAA administrator
Lubchenco. I would suspect that Dr. Phil Mote (Director of their
Climate Change Research Institute) had a hand in the decision, because
he has previously been highly intolerant of those who oppose his ideas
and could potentially threaten his business empire.
Please join with me in supporting Nick Drapela. Please join with me in
supporting objective science, as well as academic freedom, diversity,
and tolerance. The issues here go far beyond just Global Warming and
strike at the very heart of who we are as scientists and Americans.
Gordon J. Fulks, PhD (Physics)
Corbett, Oregon USA
P.S. Please circulate this e-mail far and wide. The world needs to
know what is going on here.