mndaily.com

>PZ Myers response

In response to JoAnna Wahlund's letter regarding PZ Myers, I feel I must clarify two items. First, the statements of Myers in question are taken from his personal Web site, not from his duties at the University. I understand the site may have been linked from his University page, but that is a tenuous connection at best, and, in any case, the link seems to have been removed, so any concern Wahlund expressed about "University resources" being misappropriated seems to be satisfied. I may not agree with Myers' personal views, either, but it is a scary world, indeed, if we begin punishing people at their place of employment for the personal opinions they advocate outside the workplace.

Which brings me to my second point: the simple act of Myers requesting or acquiring a Catholic communion wafer is not "breaking the law," as Wahlund claims. If I serve cupcakes in my house, and I require that my guests eat the cupcakes in my home when I serve them, that doesn't make it illegal for a welcomed guest to take their cupcake out of the house. It is disrespectful to the host, perhaps, but in the eyes of the law, my cupcakes and the communion wafers are the same thing, and sneaking away with one after it has been willingly served is not illegal, no matter how dearly we value the cupcakes or wafers.

On the other hand, if someone broke into my home or caused a disruption in an attempt to steal a cupcake, that may, indeed, run afoul of the law, but Myers explicitly stated that he would not go out of his way to acquire a wafer, and that he did not advocate such behavior for others, despite his criticism of the Church's reaction to the wafer incident in Florida. As for what may later happen to the wafer on Myers' personal Web site, I suspect that it, also, would fall under the heading of disrespect, without actually constituting a legally actionable "hate crime" or "act of violence." Remember, the content of a Web site (which has to be sought out by individuals in order to be seen and, in this case, is also personal - not organizational) is far different, legally, than a demonstration on public space or on private grounds in violation of trespassing laws.

I share Wahlund's religion, and I fully support her rights to free speech, but I strongly caution her not to blur the lines between religion and law. The trite question "what would Jesus do?" seems appropriate here, as I doubt the Jesus we know from the Scriptures (remember him?) would respond to this incident by petitioning for a man to lose his job.

Tony Wagner

Reader

The letter by JoAnna Wahlund, as well as the storm of commentary on the Web about Professor Myers, fail in every instance I have seen to make a fundamental point about the nature of academic freedom and

tenure: The University does not condone nor endorse the views of tenured professors when it continues their employment, even when those views are controversial. It is appropriate to disagree with Myers as strongly as you wish, and to publicize your arguments as widely as you can, but it is totally inappropriate to call for his dismissal. Tenure is specifically designed to protect people whose published views arouse the antagonism of some sector of society.

The reason for this protection is precisely to assure that controversial views are heard. If you hear views with which you disagree, the right response is to publicly explain why you think they are wrong - not to threaten, insult and try to shut up the individual who uttered them.

J. Woods Halley

University professor of physics

Avoid temporary Connector routes

Is there a valid reason that the Campus Connector buses have been rerouted around the St. Paul campus? To all appearances, the normal summer route is wide open.

Thousands of people are inconvenienced by these random and unpredictable schedule adjustments. With the infrequent summer bus service, missing the Connector due to a sudden route adjustment can be a major inconvenience.

Additionally, I would predict that accidents occur more frequently during route adjustments; in just the past two days I have seen several people trying to dart across traffic to find unfamiliar stops before the bus leaves them behind.

Parking and Transportation Services should take steps to avoid temporary route adjustments and should improve notification systems when route adjustments are unavoidable.

Matt Bakker

University student