Ominous Academic Silence

Free speech in higher education was at the heart of the uproar over Orange Coast College political science professor Ken Hearlson. Something instructive should and could have come out of his humiliating suspension without a hearing and his eventual reinstatement. Instead, troubling concerns linger about the latitude of teachers in the classroom.

The Costa Mesa community college was too quick in the first place to remove Hearlson, an instructor for 17 years, for offensive remarks that Muslim students alleged he made during a class after the Sept. 11 attacks. An outside investigation turned up transcriptions of audiotapes that showed that Hearlson accused Muslims in general of having a double standard--condemning the World Trade Center attacks but not terrorism against Israel. This is hardly cause for removal. There was nothing to show that he called his Muslim students “murderers” and “terrorists,” as he was accused of doing.

The reinstatement appeared to be tacit acknowledgment that the college didn’t have much of a case, but nonetheless it issued Hearlson a letter that a teachers union official angrily described as a reprimand. Confusion and disappointment are about the only results of the whole affair. How much fairer it would have been to conduct a full hearing. Instead the college subjected the teacher to the ordeal of a highly publicized suspension and disrupted his class.

Having witnessed the abdication of due process, Hearlson’s colleagues must wonder whether they too will be shoved overboard for saying something someone perceives as offensive.

It would be different if this were a case of sexual misconduct or physical assault, when the argument for immediate removal pending an inquiry would be strong. Instead the college has left the faculty worrying that if students make accusations, teachers must somehow clear their own names.

Some other students who have studied under Hearlson have voiced complaints about previous remarks he allegedly made to students about gays and Muslims. His case raises legitimate concerns about quality of instruction, standards for teachers at the community colleges and appropriate classroom conduct. But instead of encouraging a vigorous self- examination, Orange Coast College has reportedly left some faculty members saying they will dampen discussion rather than risk Hearlson’s fate. How regrettable.