Texas Tech Faculty Circulate Petition Protesting Gonzales
Texas Tech Faculty Circulate Petition Protesting Gonzales
Earlier this month, Texas Tech announced that it had offered former Bush attorney general Alberto Gonzales a position to teach political science during the upcoming fall semester. Gonzales will be a visiting professor leading a course on “contemporary issues in the executive branch” and focusing on “recruiting and retaining first generation and under-represented students.”
Students and angry alumni quickly spoke out, starting Facebook groups and writing scathing editorials. Many of the Texas Tech faculty, however, remained silent.
Not any longer. Approximately 45 Texas Tech faculty members have signed onto a petition calling Gonzales’ hiring “objectionable.” They charge that Gonzales is nothing more than a “celebrity hire” who won’t be worth his $100,000 salary:
The faculty members also take aim at Chancellor Kent Hance, who said that one of the reasons he hired Gonzales was because he’s a “good friend“:
The petition then outlines Gonzales’ conduct in the White House that “demonstrated significant ethical failings,” including rejecting the Geneva Conventions and frequently misleading Congress and the American people. Philosophy professor Walter Schaller, the creator of the petition, said that he plans to deliver it to Hance once he gathers all the signatures. Hance has already dismissed the faculty’s efforts, saying “you don’t go around making decisions based on faculty positions.”
In an interview this week with the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Gonzales gave a preview into some of the topics he will be discussing in his political science class, including, not surprisingly, the “accomplishments” of the Bush Justice Department. “We did some very strong work on behalf of the American people during my tenure as attorney general and I’m very proud of that record,” he said. He added that his class would also examine “some of the problems the current administration is confronting.”
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Wow, Gonzo isn’t even wanted in Texas? Hey Alberto, you may be better off getting speaking engagments in Siberia.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:03 pmThis guy made his name getting GWB out of drunk driving tickets.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:04 pmYay, petitioners. It’s good to know that there are some TT faculty members who have a modicum of ethical propriety.
Speedy Ambulance Chaser should go hang out his shingle somewhere else, preferably a country which appreciates his views on making end runs around the constitution and ignoring the law. Oh, shit; that’s Rick “Governator Hair” Perry’s Texas, isn’t it?
July 25th, 2009 at 1:06 pmTexas Tech wants to teach young impressionable first-generation immigrants and under-represented students that it is ok to commit perjury before Congress and put party loyalty above the rule of law.
I’d like to see what La Raza has to say about Gonzales’ new job.
In my opinion, EX Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be in jail, not teaching college students.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:07 pmDo you blame them for not wanting to hire Fredo? When he tried to badger a very ill Ashcroft in his hospital bed, he sealed his fate. The man has no morals, no ethics and apparently has short term memmory loss. His testimony in front of Congress was a joke.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:09 pm$100,000 bucks, im sure Texas tech can find more useful ways to spend that kind of money.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:09 pm- – Re: that photo. Yo, Fredo, you’re supposed to extend your fingers outward when saluting the former regime.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:09 pmThis comment has been voted down. Click to read.
Gonzales is a criminal and should be behind bars begging Bubba for more soap not poisoning our youth in a classroom.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:13 pmHe is a disgrace to everything America stands for, the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.
Go, Red Raiders!
July 25th, 2009 at 1:27 pm****
oh sloppy,
you so funny.
like these guys.
**
you have season one yet?
conservatives funny.
:)
July 25th, 2009 at 1:27 pm. . .
“10.1″?
sloppy funny.
tickle his own funny bone
till he come.
:)
July 25th, 2009 at 1:30 pmThey’re gonna give him $100k to teach ONE class? Beto’s a farouking REAL ESTATE attorney, for shit’s sake.
He repeatedly demonstrated he knows phuck-ALL about the Constitution, which he either violated himself, or encouraged others to violate on COUNTLESS occasions while at DoJ.
This is a PHUQING disgrace. The TTech Law School should be fined for encouraging unethical practices for its students.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pmIs he going to admit that those problems stem from the illegal activities that gonzo and bush engaged in?
July 25th, 2009 at 1:42 pmTexas Tech Faculty Circulate Petition Protesting Gonzales
– - Who does the Red Raiders faculty think they are, the U.N. Security Council?
July 25th, 2009 at 1:43 pmGonzolo,
Ever heard that maxim
“rats are first to leave a sinking ship”
The big rats, Dick and Chimp, left long time ago.
They left a lovely thank you note, tho.
“Ahi te quedas, pendejo”
July 25th, 2009 at 1:44 pmI’d like to see what La Raza has to say about Gonzales’ new job.
La Raza, as well as other latino groups, supported the dim-witted drooling cretinous little crook, and applauded Bush for nominating him. He had served on the board of a Texas sept of the organization.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:45 pmI still can’t beleive Gonzo and John Yoo can still get jobs. Remember the day when we as a thing called shame? These guys guys, back in the day (Dear Lord, I sound like an old-timer!) would be shunned. Any scandal, would finish you. Not anymore.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:46 pmWith Colleges so costly it makes you wonder why a student would want to be educated by a US Criminal and War Criminal. But it seems America would rather have Republican Criminals teach how to commit a crime and get away with it then to teach laws of our Constitution. Look for Scooter Libby to be teaching classes on how to fall on the sword for a corrupt Vice President. Who knows with the way Americans think we might have Bush/Cheney get back in the White House and continue the mission.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:48 pmTT is protesting hiring Berto but Berkley has Yoo. The world is going insane.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:49 pmThe one thing Gonzales ever did or said that I will always remember was how he perfected “lying under oath” with the simple statement “I don’t recall remembering”.
The practiced art of bullshit – sums up today’s GNOP.
PEACE
July 25th, 2009 at 1:55 pmIt’ll be nice to watch Gonzo perp-walked out of his classroom in cuffs…
The man is a WAR CRIMINAL and should be treated as such.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:56 pmGonzales will be a visiting professor leading a course on “contemporary issues in the executive branch” and focusing on “recruiting and retaining first generation and under-represented students.”
Will Gonzales be trying to recruit conservatives, or anyone who is in an “under-represented” group? Will he decide that conservatives are “under-represented” at Texas Tech and focus on recruiting them only? Or will he also decide that people who don’t believe in supporting and defending the Constitution of the United States are “under-represented” at Texas Tech?
July 25th, 2009 at 1:59 pmThe petition then outlines Gonzales’ conduct in the White House that “demonstrated significant ethical failings,”
Never mind “demonstrated significant ethical failings”,
his “significant memory failings” alone should disqualify him for that $100,000 salary.
How many times did this loser pull the “I don’t recall” crap during his testimony.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:18 pmIt had to be over 100 times.
100,000 to teach one course
got to love texas
true war mongers
let them leave the union
bet they take more out of the fed money than they put in
if they left they would be bankrupt with two years and be begging for fed money
it would be like nazi germany all over again
even the industrial military complex has control of the universities with their grants.
even smu is building a libary for the worst of the war mongers in texas. even the christian universitys in texas love their war mongers. bush jr
July 25th, 2009 at 2:21 pmA possible solution would be for all of the students who enrolled in the class to drop it.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:21 pmA possible solution would be for all of the students who enrolled in the class to drop it.
Yes, both of them.
Who in their right mind would ever think they might learn something truthful and useful from Alberto Gonzales?
July 25th, 2009 at 2:27 pmIs he demonstrating the symbol for La Raza? That would be ironic.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:28 pmAnother poster put it well the other day,
Any university that employs Gonzales (or Yoo for that matter) should lose there accreditation.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:30 pmmajii says:
A possible solution would be for all of the students who enrolled in the class to drop it.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:34 pmI doubt any class he would teach would be open to anyone that wanted to sign-up. It would be by invitation only so he wouldn’t have to hear any dissent.
Every one of his classes should be protested with bullhorns and boat horns. The student body should not allow anyone to hear this criminal speak.
The Chancellor of this college should also be the target of constant protests until he steps down. I would also encourage every student at Texas Tech to take permanent marker in hand and “decorate” the campus with messages regarding their displeasure with a war criminal getting paid to lecture.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:35 pmWayne A. Schneider says:
——————————————————————————–
Is he demonstrating the symbol for La Raza?
I thought it was for Brown Power.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:47 pmHance can ignore the faculty but he will take notice if there is a fundraising problem with alumni and students leave the school. I would assume there are school trustees that would have to be consulted or have some input on this decision. These trustees are very sensitive to financial issues.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:53 pmI have family in Tejas and have to remind them of this kind of stuff as the reason I never visit……
July 25th, 2009 at 3:20 pmi am a big believer in bounties. cash. moolah. the filthy lucre. paid upon the delivery of the person sought. it is legal in the USA. and it is legal in Spain too.
i wonder how long this fredo will be walking the streets of our fair land with a million dollar cash bounty in spain hanging upon his head? not long. he will be knocked in the head and thrown on the next jet to Barcelona. the spanish courts would deal with this war criminal the way Obama should. 3 hots and a cot. a fair trial and a first-class hanging.
i am willing to donate $20 a week from my beer and whatnot fund towards any bounty that is for the delivery (live) to Spain for their war crimes trial.
the CIA lawyers, addington, rumsfeld, cheney, rove, perle, wolfowitz, libby, feith, bybee, yoo, and of course, the commander in chief.
i am willing to sacrifice to make it happen. the question is, are you?
July 25th, 2009 at 3:39 pmTexas Tech is a public university subsidized by taxes from Texas citizens. They also receive Fed funds.
Gonzo is an enemy of the people and democracy and this country.
Why should anyone tolerate this 100,000 dollar misappropriation of public funds by contributing to his stream of legal defense cash needed to defend himself against war crimes, torture and murder?
July 25th, 2009 at 4:02 pmThey don’t care if you worked for BUSH before, you are NOT WHITE.
July 25th, 2009 at 4:03 pm“It’s good to know that there are some TT faculty members who have a modicum of ethical propriety.”
I’m one of the signators cited in the article. The vast majority of TTU faculty members have “a modicum of ethical propriety”, but we teach in a university that has been treated as an expensive Club-Fed for failed or disgraced persons fired from other jobs–Bob Knight, anyone?
Kent Hance imposed this decision upon the faculty, entirely outside the bounds of the TOI, in which the Chancellor has no role vis-a-vis faculty or curricula.
We’re fighting the battle the best way we can. One way others can help is to call/write/email/publicize regarding the RESISTANCE to the Gonzalez hiring: help the world know that we at TTU *are* opposing the action.
Thanks.
Dr Coyote
July 25th, 2009 at 4:39 pmTexas Tech announced that they had also hired Bernie Madoff to teach a new business class called Ponzi Schemes 101. “We expect this to be a must-have-class among Texas politicians.” said the school spokesman.
July 25th, 2009 at 4:49 pmI don’t see Gonzales lasting at Texas Tech even if he does get to teach the first day. I don’t see the people at Texas Tech putting up with that. I certainly would never send my kids there if they were to hire Gonzales, a known war criminal. I wouldn’t ever send the university a dime in donations if they ever allowed someone like Gonzales to teach there.
July 25th, 2009 at 5:48 pmHiring Gonzales as a professor is like hiring Charles Manson as a family therapist.
July 25th, 2009 at 6:03 pm#33 Pags2: A lot of the alumni have already said in no uncertain terms that they will not be donating to TTU so long as Gonzales is there. The comments section in the online newspaper was not kind to him.
Lubbock is pissed and I cannot wait to run into him in public.
July 25th, 2009 at 7:37 pmHow are Gonzo’s students going to learn anything in his classes, if he answers all questions with, “I don’t recall?”
July 25th, 2009 at 11:27 pmFrom the “Strange Bedfellows, or Business as Usual in Texas” Department —
Kent Hance appoints Alberto Gonzales to a lucrative position at Texas Tech, referring to him as a “good friend”?
A little history…
After serving as a Texas State Senator from 1973-1978, Mr. Hance ran as the Democratic candidate for U. S. Representative in the Texas 19th Congressional District. His opponent — George W. Bush.
According to a relevant wikipedia article: “…Hance claimed Bush was ‘not a real Texan’ because of his privileged upbringing and Yale education. Hance won by seven points – the only time Bush was ever defeated in an election. Hance later said in an interview that after that election, Bush vowed that ‘he wasn’t going to be out-Christianed or out-good-old-boyed again,’ and developed the folksy image that eventually carried him to the White House…” You can see it for yourself at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Hance
An additional article about George W. Bush by Nicholas Kristoff includes a couple of humorous anecdotes about George W. Bush’s earliest efforts in the political arena, before he the Corporate Media had comfortably burrowed themselves within the cozy confines of W’s hip pocket. A couple of excerpts:
Kent Hance, the Democratic candidate and a smooth-talking good old boy, was telling a yarn about working in a field along a rural road. Then along came a fancy car.
“It was a Mercedes,” drawled Mr. Hance, raising his eyebrows, and the audience tittered knowingly at the hint that Mr. Bush was the kind of man more comfortable in a Mercedes than a pick-up. “The guy rolled down the window and wanted to know how to get to a certain ranch.”
Mr. Hance recounted how he’d given the man directions, telling him to turn right after a cattle guard, a metal grate ubiquitous in rural roads to keep livestock from straying. “Then,” Mr. Hance continued, “he said, ‘what color uniform will that cattle guard be wearing?’ ”
The audience roared with laughter, and just to be sure that the voters got the connection with the Connecticut-born Mr. Bush, Mr. Hance said he had noticed something else about the Mercedes: “It had Connecticut license plates.”
And…
For example, there was the day, early in the campaign, at a candidate forum on a farm near the town of Dimmitt. “Today is the first time I’ve been on a real farm,” Mr. Bush said, beaming at the crowd.
Mr. Reese, who was next to speak, began by saying: “I want to assure you, this is not the first time I’ve been on a real farm.”
And, finally…
Then there was the TV commercial Mr. Bush dreamed up to demonstrate how energetic he was: it showed him jogging on a track. In those days, joggers were about as common in West Texas as Martians.
“The only time folks around here go running,” Mr. Hance, the Democratic candidate, told audiences, “is when somebody’s chasing ‘em.”
To see the enlightening and sometimes amusing article for yourself, go to: http://partners.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/072700wh-bush-lubbock.html
After serving three consecutive terms in the House, Mr. Hance decided not to run for re-election in 1984. He then made the relatively small leap from a conservative Democrat to becoming a Republican in 1985. His batting average in terms of running for office dropped considerably after that time, although he did win election to the Texas Railroad Commission in 1988, riding the presidential coattails of Bush’s daddy.
And now Hance appoints one of George W. Bush’s best buddies to a sweetheart job at Texas Tech? When Winston Churchill spoke of “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” could he have possibly been referring to Texas politics?
July 26th, 2009 at 1:46 amRednecks … What else is there to say?
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Try to remember, folks, that one of the best universities in the country, U. Cal Berkeley, famous for its liberalism, has had JOHN YOO on its payroll for several years now. I have corresponded with the dean of the law school protesting Yoo’s continued presence on the faculty, & (because my husband & I are big donors to Berkeley) the dean wrote me back that they can’t fire Yoo till some actual charges or bar proceedings are brought against him. On an intellectual level, I understand that; on a visceral level, I’m horrified. I don’t know what state bar association Yoo belongs to, but I wish they’d oust him or sanction him or something because the Obama Administration is continuing to defend that hideous creep.
The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com
July 26th, 2009 at 11:51 amIsn’t that a “terrorist fist bump” that Gonzo is doing?
July 26th, 2009 at 4:40 pmThe petition now has 60 signatures. (I was the primary author: Walter Schaller, Philosophy Department).
July 27th, 2009 at 12:53 amBRAVO Texas Tech.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:39 amDemocracy is alive and well in ’some’ parts of Texas.
It is time to get rid of Kent Hance. He is nothing but a political hack who ran for every office in Texas that he could. If I remember correctly the only race he was was when he beat George W. Bush for congress. That shows how low Hance is on the political totem pole. He is not qualified to run the University. Unfortunately in Texas the jobs are political plums given to good buddies of good buddies. FIRE HANCE.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:38 am