While those on the Left are often the ones who preach tolerance and open-mindedness, they seem to be the very same individuals who work to silence opposition. For example, unhappy with the increased presence of conservatives on talk radio, liberals have called for the so-called Fairness Doctrine, which would force a balance of liberalism and conservatism on talk radio. (Of course, it is those very same people who refuse to admit that stations such as MSNBC are puppets for the Left, but I digress.)
Perhaps the most obvious example of Leftist hypocrisy and intolerance involves unsuccessful congressional candidate Art Robinson (pictured, standing to the right of University of Oregon and NFL football great Dave Wilcox) and the political targeting of Robinson’s children by Oregon State University.
The three Robinson children are all candidates for advanced degrees in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics. According to Robinson, the university is working adamantly to block his children, Joshua, Bethany, and Matthew Robinson, from achieving their PhD degrees. Robinson went so far as to launch a website on the subject, and wrote of his ordeal in an article.
Robinson observes on his website:
The Democrat political machine in Oregon really plays hardball when it comes to political payback. In retribution for my running against liberal socialist Peter DeFazio in the Oregon District 4 congressional election, DeFazio supporters at Democrat stronghold Oregon State University are trying to prevent three of my children from receiving their PhD degrees in nuclear engineering at OSU.
Robinson won the Republican, Independent, Libertarian, and Constitution Party endorsements for the 2010 midterm elections and ran against far-left Democrat Peter DeFazio for the House position. DeFazio ran a smear campaign against Robinson which effectively won him the House seat, though not by nearly as much as might have been expected — 54.5 to 43.6 percent. Regardless of the loss, Robinson has already announced his intent to run again for a House position in 2012.
Robinson contends that his vigor in the 2010 election and his announcement to seek candidacy in the 2012 elections have prompted Oregon State University to employ “political payback.” His detailed narrative of the events that transpired following the results of the 2010 midterm elections is as follows:
They initiated an attack on my three children — Joshua, Bethany and Matthew — for the purpose of throwing them all out of the OSU graduate school, despite their outstanding academic and research accomplishments. OSU is a liberal socialist Democrat stronghold in Oregon that received a reported $27 million in earmark funding from my opponent, Peter DeFazio, and his Democrat colleagues during the last legislative session.
Thus, Democrat activist David Hamby and militant feminist and chairman of the nuclear engineering department Kathryn Higley are expelling four-year Ph.D. student Joshua Robinson from OSU at the end of the current academic quarter and turning over the prompt neutron activation analysis facility Joshua built for his thesis work and all of his work in progress to Higley's husband, Steven Reese. Reese, an instructor in the department, has stated that he will use these things for his own professional gain. Joshua's apparatus, which he built and added to the OSU nuclear reactor with the guidance and ideas of his mentor, Michael Hartman, earned Joshua the award for best Masters of Nuclear Engineering thesis at OSU and has been widely complimented by scientists at prominent U.S. nuclear facilities.
Meanwhile, faculty member Todd Palmer notified four-year Ph.D. student Bethany Robinson (OSU grade point average 3.89) that he was terminating her thesis work and taking all of her work in progress for himself. Some of Bethany's graduate work has already been used, without credit to Bethany, in the thesis of another favored student now recently hired on the department faculty.
The Robinson family immediately took action against the school, but could not say with certainty that the school’s actions were necessarily political payback. That all changed, however, when OSU Professor of Nuclear Engineering Jack Higginbotham came forward and warned the Robinson family that the school was in fact targeting the Robinson children.
Robinson explains:
Professor Higginbotham warned us that faculty administrators at OSU were working to make certain that Joshua, his sister Bethany and, if possible, his brother Matthew never receive Ph.D. degrees in nuclear engineering from OSU, regardless of their examination, academic and research performance. Professor Higginbotham then reviewed with us the details of the plan to destroy the education of these students and advised me to do anything I could to protect my children.
HIgginbotham appears to be a reputable source on the issue, as he has served on the OSU faculty for 24 years, held a number of positions at the school, and received a number of professional awards.
Unfortunately for Higginbotham, his courageous willingness to come forward has provoked the ire of OSU, which Robinson asserts launched “a campaign of defamation, vilification, persecution, Star-Chamber humiliation and other career-destroying actions” against the professor.
The Robinson family unsuccessfully attempted to address the issues with OSU within the confines of the school guidelines and avoid making the issues public. Neither OSU deans, nor OSU president Edward Ray — all of whom are ardent DeFazio supporters — would agree to even meet with the Robinson family to address the issues.
Robinson observes, “The bottom line is that no university should behave this way. The idea that the administrators refused to meet with concerned students or parents reveals a level of arrogance.”
Additionally, as Joshua and Bethany are already slated for dismissal from the department of nuclear engineering, it became evident that the family would have to take drastic measures and publicly expose OSU’s political ploys.
As “the means of opposing injustice at universities has been very weak,” Robinson came to the conclusion that he needed to publicize the issue and rely on public pressure to halt the university’s actions against his children.
Joshua Robinson continues to try to give the university the benefit of the doubt. “I really can’t speculate to say why they’re doing it because they haven’t said why they’re doing it. I’d like to know from them why they’re doing it.”
Art Robinson more assertively declares, “It’s political. I made a very strong campaign against a very prominent liberal Democrat during the election.” Robinson also notes that as the evidence seems to indicate that the university’s actions are in fact political, it is the university’s responsibility to explain its actions and clarify its reasoning if indeed politics is not playing a role.
Predictably, OSU issued a statement indicating that the “attacks by Art Robinson are baseless, false, and without merit.” The statement reads:
Since Mr. Robinson began making these claims last fall, university leadership has had ample opportunity to look into them through the Office of the Provost, the Graduate School and the Office of the Dean of the College of Engineering, and can say, categorically, that the allegations and attacks are unfounded and without merit.
Likewise, DeFazio issued a statement, wherein he highlighted his delivery of tens of millions of dollars to a number of universities, and declared, “Whatever academic issues Mr. Robinson’s children are having with OSU, they have nothing to do with Congressman DeFazio’s advocacy for these institutions.”
The Robinson family is urging Americans to contact OSU and demand that the university discontinue its efforts against the Robinson children, as well as Professor Higginbotham:
OSU administrators think they can violate ethical academic standards of professional conduct, break formal OSU rules and regulations, and even violate U.S. laws with impunity because, in any resulting litigation, they would be defended by lawyers from the Oregon Department of Justice, assuring that only students with huge sums of money and many years to invest in litigation can oppose them. The Robinsons do not have those huge sums of money, and, moreover, they want to complete their education — not receive money in exchange for the destruction of their education and opportunities.
If these people succeed, a delighted Peter DeFazio will be able to brag to the voters that the Robinson children were thrown out of Oregon State University. Why else but to favor DeFazio would the OSU administration condone seemingly irrational actions that are potentially so damaging to the reputation of the university? OSU dances to the tune of the Democrat machine, and DeFazio controls that machine.
Since the controversy at OSU has been made public, Robinson told The New American, “The public response is extraordinary.” Thus far, the university has been inundated with thousands of complaints and many more are expected.
Likewise, Professor Higginbotham has been approached a number of times and encouraged to continue the fight against the injustice at OSU.
Photo: University of Oregon great and NFL Hall of Famer Dave Wilcox with Art Robinson, whom Wilcox endorsed.
