University of Texas dean quits school for job in Pennsylvania because of Lone Star state’s new policy allowing guns on c

[Abraham]

Yeah, keep a low profile and hope you're not noticed.

Great, just great...

[J.R.@A&M]

Yeah, keep a low profile and hope you're not noticed.

Great, just great...

I engaged in a lot of online and media debate, identifying myself (mostly anonymously) as a university faculty. I don't apologize for not totally outing myself. I would not suggest that you or anybody else on this forum is obligated to reveal their concealed carry status (or any other controversial stance) to their boss, their HR department, their pastor, or the parents of their kids' friends.

[WildBill]

Yeah, keep a low profile and hope you're not noticed.

Great, just great...

I engaged in a lot of online and media debate, identifying myself (mostly anonymously) as a university faculty. I don't apologize for not totally outing myself. I would not suggest that you or anybody else on this forum is obligated to reveal their concealed carry status (or any other controversial stance) to their boss, their HR department, their pastor, or the parents of their kids' friends.

[Skiprr]

He was the Dean of the School here. It's a lateral move at best.

I don't know all the details, of course, but I'm not completely certain about that.

In Austin, he was dean of the Texas School of Architecture. His new position is dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. PennDesign includes not only Architecture, but also City Planning, Landscape Architecture, Fine Arts, Historic Preservation, Digital Media Design, and Visual Studies. Sounds like Steiner is happily going home while simultaneously adding several other programs under his authority.

BTW, the previous dean of PennDesign was Marilyn Jordan Taylor. Originally appointed in 2008, she agreed in June 2014 to an extension of her appointment until June 30, 2016. I can't speak to academia, but I doubt the search for a new dean is something that happens quickly. My guess is that Steiner's (appreciated by Texas) move from Austin was several, if not many, months in the making. PennDesign knew Taylor's exit date two years in advance.

[WildBill]

Yeah, keep a low profile and hope you're not noticed.

Great, just great...

I understand your point Abraham. The older I get, the more likely I am to speak my mind and do not care what my contemporaries think about me.

But it is sad that long ago I learned that our "institutions of higher learning" do not really believe in "free speech" or the open and intellectual discussion of "diverse ideas".

Unfortunately, I think most of the silence boils down to that they are "just trying to make a living".

[VoiceofReason]

Jusme,

So, these pro-gun academics should lie low because speaking up pro-gun would be too much sacrifice?

I understand that being timid, meek and mild goes a long way to promote the anti-gun agenda.

Spare me your defense of the "Don't Rock The Boat or We'll Suffer Agenda".

You posted: "There is a very large contingent of campus carry advocates in the student population" - so let them carry the water, eh? They have so little to lose, while the pro-gun academics could, gulp, be in hot water... Oh my, my, we can't have that.

Ever consider that if more pro-gun academics spoke up it would greatly help the cause of being pro-self defense? Maybe if there were enough academic voices, it just might tone down the academic anti-gun folks?

As long as these pro-gun academics sit on their hands and let others speak up, while they remain mum, I remain disgusted by their gutlessness.

WildBill,

I would heartily agree if the anti-gun academics kept quiet, but they don't.

They clamor, rage, and rave against pro-gun self defense while the pro-gun academics don't look up from their reading, hoping like crazy they aren't called upon to stand up to the anti-gun zealots.

Therefore, it's incumbent upon the pro-gun academics to get off their duffs, reluctant as they are and speak up, cuz the anti's among them aren't gonna be quiet about their radical opinions.

How eager would you be to speak up “pro gun” if you knew it could cost you your job or the chance of ever getting a promotion?

I had a friend that taught middle school. When he learned that a tackle football program would soon be introduced in the middle school he got together with other teachers and got a bunch of signatures of other teachers on a petition objecting to the program.

His reasons were that the bodies and brains of middle school children are not mature enough to handle tackle football and would be subject to long term injury. The administration claimed to not have the money for necessities like paper and ink for the mimeograph machine but would spend thousands of dollars on football equipment and numerous others.

The administration called a meeting during which most teachers stated they were for the program all along and had been coerced or tricked into signing the petition. They left my friend and a couple of other teachers swinging in the wind. It was insinuated that if my friend ever wanted a promotion he should start looking in other school districts.

Also ask yourself why just about everyone on this board uses a “pen name”.

I would not be so quick to criticize the “pro-gun academics” for not speaking up. I am sure many have good reasons not to.

[sugar land dave]

sugar land dave,

You posted: "it's only the loonies who make the news. There are plenty of sensible professors in many schools who are fine with firearms."

This rather reminds me of the few moderate Muslims insisting, it's only a very small minority of Muslims that are terrorists.

If what you posted is true, why then don't these sensible professors speak the heck up!

It would seem, they don't dare suffer the slings and arrows of voicing pro-gun opinion, i.e., they're a bunch of wimps!

My ire isn't directed at you, but I'm curious about they're lack of stance.

I'm inclined to think if a professor stood in favor of students being armed (or faculty for that matter) it would be in the national news.

What say you?

Actually it was koine2002 who posted that comment.

[sugar land dave]

sugar land dave,

You posted: "it's only the loonies who make the news. There are plenty of sensible professors in many schools who are fine with firearms."

This rather reminds me of the few moderate Muslims insisting, it's only a very small minority of Muslims that are terrorists.

If what you posted is true, why then don't these sensible professors speak the heck up!

It would seem, they don't dare suffer the slings and arrows of voicing pro-gun opinion, i.e., they're a bunch of wimps!

My ire isn't directed at you, but I'm curious about they're lack of stance.

I'm inclined to think if a professor stood in favor of students being armed (or faculty for that matter) it would be in the national news.

What say you?

I don't know that Sugarland Dave or any other professor or UT official would be treated as anything but a gun nut by the media if they came in support of campus carry. Especially given the left wing media outlets pervasive in Austin. There is a very large contingent of campus carry advocates in the student population, and they don't receive any air time unless it's in a divisive article criticizing their advocacy.

I applaud Sugarland Dave for his support and the postings giving us an insider view of things, we only get one side of these issues by the proclamations of the UT President, and the resultant left wing spin by the media.

Again, that was posted by koine2002. I can only stand by my comments.

[Abraham]

Well, I'm not gonna speak up, what about you?

No, heck no. I wanna keep my job, though I have to keep my pro-gun cards close to my vest as I work for anti-gun despots and they'll nail my hide to the wall if I speak my mind.

Am I scared of them?

Well, I'm still here...

If I speak up, I'll walk the plank, and you know, it ain't so bad, as long as I toe the line.

Heck, I'd thrive in a country with a totalitarian government.

I could be a Broadway actor. I act like a sycophant, but deep down I have the heart of a lion. A cowardly lion, but a lion none the less...

I speak no evil.

I see no evil.

I hear no evil.

Lest you think I remained a mouse in a previous corporate life, think again.

I was something of an activist, fully appreciating I could get canned for my outspoken ideas, but somehow it never happened.

I like to think it was because I did a kick-butt job, but who knows...?

I could look at myself in the mirror in the morning.

[WildBill]

Well, I'm not gonna speak up, what about you? ...

I could look at myself in the mirror in the morning.

[winters]

Far as I'm concerned i hope the door doesn't hit him in the rear on the way out. Texas doesn't need people like him here.

[WildBill]

Far as I'm concerned i hope the door doesn't hit him in the rear on the way out. Texas doesn't need people like him here.

I hope it does hit him, where the sun don't shine.

[sugar land dave]

Far as I'm concerned i hope the door doesn't hit him in the rear on the way out. Texas doesn't need people like him here.

I hope it does hit him, where the sun don't shine.

[Jusme]

Jusme,

So, these pro-gun academics should lie low because speaking up pro-gun would be too much sacrifice?

I understand that being timid, meek and mild goes a long way to promote the anti-gun agenda.

Spare me your defense of the "Don't Rock The Boat or We'll Suffer Agenda".

You posted: "There is a very large contingent of campus carry advocates in the student population" - so let them carry the water, eh? They have so little to lose, while the pro-gun academics could, gulp, be in hot water... Oh my, my, we can't have that.

Ever consider that if more pro-gun academics spoke up it would greatly help the cause of being pro-self defense? Maybe if there were enough academic voices, it just might tone down the academic anti-gun folks?

As long as these pro-gun academics sit on their hands and let others speak up, while they remain mum, I remain disgusted by their gutlessness.

WildBill,

I would heartily agree if the anti-gun academics kept quiet, but they don't.

They clamor, rage, and rave against pro-gun self defense while the pro-gun academics don't look up from their reading, hoping like crazy they aren't called upon to stand up to the anti-gun zealots.

Therefore, it's incumbent upon the pro-gun academics to get off their duffs, reluctant as they are and speak up, cuz the anti's among them aren't gonna be quiet about their radical opinions.

Abraham I never insinuated that Sugarland Dave should not voice his opinion, I think he has done that, now whether he should take a public stance or not that is his choice to make and I will never criticize his decision one way or the other. My point was in response to your comment that it would make national news if he publicly came out as a pro campus carry advocate. We have all seen the treatment given to pro carry advocates and the media likes to lump everybody together with groups that carry AR15S and AK47S even though the new laws only apply to LTC holders, and handguns. You yourself have posted on other threads that you were tired of trying to convince others of the virtues of carrying, and were critical of UT personnel who expressed views in opposition of yours.
Why to you now advocate UT personnel publicly make statements because they are more in line with your views?

I don't have a dog in the hunt at UT I don't work there and none of my children have plans to attend there.

It really doesn't matter what you, I, or anyone else thinks about the campus carry law, it is the law, or will be in August.

[VoiceofReason]

sugar land dave,

You posted: "it's only the loonies who make the news. There are plenty of sensible professors in many schools who are fine with firearms."

This rather reminds me of the few moderate Muslims insisting, it's only a very small minority of Muslims that are terrorists.

If what you posted is true, why then don't these sensible professors speak the heck up!

It would seem, they don't dare suffer the slings and arrows of voicing pro-gun opinion, i.e., they're a bunch of wimps!

My ire isn't directed at you, but I'm curious about they're lack of stance.

I'm inclined to think if a professor stood in favor of students being armed (or faculty for that matter) it would be in the national news.

What say you?

I don't know that Sugarland Dave or any other professor or UT official would be treated as anything but a gun nut by the media if they came in support of campus carry. Especially given the left wing media outlets pervasive in Austin. There is a very large contingent of campus carry advocates in the student population, and they don't receive any air time unless it's in a divisive article criticizing their advocacy.

I applaud Sugarland Dave for his support and the postings giving us an insider view of things, we only get one side of these issues by the proclamations of the UT President, and the resultant left wing spin by the media.

Again, that was posted by koine2002. I can only stand by my comments.

If both of your posts were directed toward me, I apologize twice.

My post was directed at no one in particular. My post was directed at everyone that criticizes the faculty that may be pro gun for not standing up in support of campus carry when we don’t know all the facts.

I have more enemies than you would believe because I stood up for what was right many times. Once it almost cost me a good job but I didn’t back down. Another time it could have cost me my life. After considering what would become of my wife and children. I let it drop.

My point is we should not criticize someone for not taking a stand because of what we think we know.