News reports indicate that blogger Roger Shuler was fired from his job at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) because he had written critically about the Bush Justice Department.
What does it say about the leadership of a major research university that such a thing could happen? It certainly poses troubling questions, particularly considering that UAB receives more than $400 million a year in federal research funding.
Shuler raises some of those questions himself at his blog, Legal Schnauzer. And he encourages readers to pose these questions, or some of their own, to UAB President Carol Garrison and her public-relations director Gary Mans. They can be reached at:
First, Shuler notes that Garrison, through Mans, had responded to public concerns by issuing a statement that Shuler's dismissal was based solely on work performance. Shuler, however, points out that Garrison's statement contradicts the actions of a UAB employee grievance committee and the words of the university's human-resources director.
Shuler then notes that by issuing a written statement but repeatedly refusing to answer questions from Raw Story's Lindsay Beyerstein, Garrison was behaving like Republican guru Karl Rove in his efforts to avoid testifying before Congress.
Finally, Shuler notes the irony of UAB having an "Ethics and Civic Responsibility" requirement for its students while itself behaving in highly unethical ways. UAB's own IT expert testified at a grievance hearing that Shuler had never worked on his personal blog while on university time. And the whole point of the blog Legal Schnauzer is to promote honest government by shining a light on public officials who act dishonestly. UAB has a problem with that subject matter? Evidently it does, particularly when it appears that subjects of some of Shuler's critical reports apply pressure to the university.
Do the folks who run UAB see incongruity in their promotion of ethics for their students while behaving like Karl Rove--a man hardly known for ethics and civic responsibility?
www.legalschnauzer.blogspot.com
I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are all Republicans, and the attorney who filed a fraudulent lawsuit against me has strong family ties to the Alabama Republican Party, with indirect connections to national figures such as Karl Rove. In fact, a number of Republican operatives who have played a central role in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) also have connections to my case.
I am married, with no kids and two Siamese cats. I am the author of the blog Legal Schnauzer. The blog is written in honor of Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004)who did so much to help my wife and me survive our nightmarish experience with corrupt judges.
I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and I am pretty much a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan. I've lived in Birmingham for almost 30 years and have adopted the UAB Blazers as my Southern college football and basketball team to follow. Also, follow East Tennessee State basketball.
An avid reader, both fiction and non-fiction. Influential writers on public affairs are Kevin Phillips, Michael Lind, Thomas Edsall, E.J. Dionne, Molly Ivins, and Scott Horton.
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