Drapela, an outspoken critic of man-made climate change, worked at the university for 10 years.
In the early years of his career, he published a number of textbooks, received a promotion to senior instructor and, in 2004, received a Loyd F. Carter award for outstanding and inspirational teacher.
In 2007, Drapela began giving talks on his own climate change skepticism. He often and openly questioned the science behind man-made global warming.
Drapela told the Daily Caller he was “blindsided” when the department chair called Drapela into his office to fire him on May 29.
“He read a prepared statement and took my key,” Drapela said, adding that he was given no reason in this meeting as to why he was being let go.
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I read about this guy. His contract was not renewed. The thing about the key was that they took away his building key and gave him only an office key. This article makes it seem like he was not allowed to finish classes, but that is not the case. The sad truth is, he was contingent upon contract renewal from year to year, and the U was within rights to not renew. Not that it is fair, just within rights. It is probably true that the people there did not like his views. My BIL worked there for years. He is a far right conservative, and he always kept his mouth shut there because he said he was "surrounded by enemies." I guess you might be able to tell I am not a far-right conservative. But anyway, my BIL did not get let go. Happily, he found a TT job.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. When this guy's contract isn't renewed, FOX is up in arms about him being "fired." When thousands of other faculty have their contracts "not renewed" every year, it's just fine and dandy and not worth mentioning.
DeleteNot that that's news to any of us.
Drapela would be welcomed with open arms over at Pensacola Christian College, Bob Jones U., or one of those oil-backed anti-warming "think tanks."
ReplyDeleteLurve how FOX and fright-wing blogs headline with "Professor fired FOR expressing climate change denying views" except, even those sources report that he has been outspoken with his views for over 10 years.
ReplyDeleteQuite the sudden turn of events!
"The Daily Caller also noted he has a relatively high rating on RateMyProfessor.com."
How nice that The Site that Shall Not be Named (Again) has been elevated to a journalistic source of value!
As The Myth points out, hundreds (if not thousands) of contingent faculty have their contracts not renewed at the end of each term. But this guy gets national panties in a bunch because his story can be twisted to fit a contrived political agenda.
"How nice that The Site that Shall Not be Named (Again) has been elevated to a journalistic source of value!"
DeleteMakes you wonder how a news source that would do this covers politics and wars, no?
Oh, I agree. I feel terrible when a contingent faculty member (whose political views I share) loses a job. But then I feel fucking great when a contingent faculty member (who holds the OTHER political views) loses a job.
ReplyDeleteIt's because I have a PhD.
Michael Rango, I appreciate your talent for sarcasm. But please. No one here is happy this guy lost a job. I am just saying....this is not a scandal. This is something that happens every day. Many times......it's actually extremely common, sadly so.
DeleteIt IS ironic that the folks at FoxNews are exactly the kind of people who scorn most people who suffer exactly this fate. The fact that this man had views they approve of, and he worked in a place that is known for the opposite views, apparently made them extremely and uncharacteristically sympathetic.
It is ironic, since if Nicholas Drapela had tenure, he very likely could not be dismissed for his political views, as he's claiming. Tenure was expanded in the '50s in the wake of the McCarthy hearings specifically for this purpose. Let's hope that the Wall Street Journal, which like Fox News works for Rupert Murdoch, decides that tenure isn't so bad after all, in contrast to what it's been saying lately. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303610504577418293114042070.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)
ReplyDeleteDrapela does not base his objection to global warming on science, he bases it on a bigoted, paranoid, irrational, and crazy conspiracy theory. His presentations on global warming present no scientific evidence that contradicts current climate change science. Does he belong in a chemistry classroom? Absolutely not. This nutcase was fortunate to hold on to his position as long as he did.
ReplyDeleteCan you cite a reference to support this? Many fine scientists have taken unnecessary nonsense for expressing unpopular views. They included Alfred Wegener, who was right (although admittedly not 100% right) about continental drift, and Geoff Burbidge and Fred Hoyle, who were wrong about cosmology.
DeleteOf course, tenure does not give a geology or geography professor a license to teach that Earth is flat. It can allow one,
outside the classroom, to express views that are unpopular and even demonstrably wrong. One example was Arthur Butz, who never mentioned his book "The Hoax of the 20th Century" during his numerical analysis class. If Drapela had tenure, he might have been covered, even if he is a "nutcase," if he didn't bring it into his classes.
Here's a better written article about the situation, though it doesn't provide any more details about the nature of his skepticism.
ReplyDeleteI think his situation does differ from that of many other adjuncts. Not in the outcome or employment situation but the reason for non-renewal of his contract. I haven't heard anybody posting at CM complain that they were denied a contract renewal because of political beliefs, excepting those who work at religious schools. Drapela seems to be an outstanding teacher with long-term employment at Oregon State. Although there certainly could be many more legitimate reasons for not renewing his contract, run-of-the-mill global warming skepticism would be a poor reason.
Here's a video of him fielding questions after his talk.
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DeleteI can't tell much from this video, partly because of the poor sound quality.
DeleteJust in case anyone is wondering, I will admit that Al Gore and others have overstated their case. I warn students not to do this in scientific papers or grant proposals, since it can weaken one's argument. (I also tell them never to make promises they can't keep, since they will be remembered, and held against you.) The media love hype, but I tell students to avoid it in scientific writing. Good science will usually sell itself, if you explain it in ways that other people can understand.
If a knowledgeable scientist could make a rigorous, convincing case that global temperatures are not rising, global sea levels are not rising, or that they have a non-anthropogenic causes, I'd love to hear it. I don't want to believe it, either, because it bodes ill for our future. But it isn't a matter of belief: it's a matter of evidence. On what evidence does Nicholas Drapela base his skepticism?
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ReplyDeleteSee http://www.slideshare.net/sholom770/global-warming-cracked-open to examine Drapela's "evidence" against global warming. If Drapela was not teaching science, then I agree that the nutcase should not have lost his position. But he teaches chemistry. Drapela claims global warming is a political issue when it is really a scientific issue based on the sciences of physics and chemistry. His views on a scientific matter are unscientific and raise grave doubts about his competency to teach science. He states that a scientific claim is wrong without providing a single piece of scientific evidence that proves it wrong.
ReplyDeleteOregon State let Drapela stay for at least 4 years after his views became publicly known. If he were tenured, then OSU would have been forced to marginalize him much like the Biological Sciences Department at Lehigh University has marginalized Michael Behe. But he didn't have tenure and never would have been able to achieve tenure. So, he was let go and rightly so.
I just looked at this slideshow of his, and I don't think it inspires confidence. His evoking of Joseph Goebbels is particularly worrisome.
DeleteAt least he does acknowledge that temperatures are increasing. His claim that it's due to increased solar activity is flat-out wrong, however: the solar cycle appears getting weaker, and may shut down after the current cycle (Penn, M.J. and MacDonald, R.K.D. ``Solar Cycle Changes in Sunspot Umbral Intensity'' The Astrophysical Journal vol. 662, pp. L123-L126). That the problem should be ignored because "we can't control the Sun" isn't good logic, anyway: what we should do is to stop adding to it, and prepare for what it may be causing, regardless of the cause.
It may give us at least a partial reprieve. I hope so, since I don't think that much will get done until quite noticeable effects arrive, such increases in food prices because of decade-long droughts. A link to a plot from NASA Earth Observatory showing the relative contribution of climate forcings is here:
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/sotc/intro.html
Flower, it's not a simple choice between scientific or political issue. It's both. The science is just science, though what you choose the measure and how you measure it can be influenced by politics. For the most part, politics comes in play when you interpret the data and, more importantly, starting considering ways to deal with the problem.
DeleteWhether he views climate change data objectively may not matter to his teaching. Apart from environmental or atmospheric chemistry, this topic would not be part of the curriculum. He was a good teacher before people knew what he thought about climate change. Unless he changed his teaching style concurrently with giving these talks as a climate change skeptic, then he's still a good teacher.
Flower, it's not a simple choice between scientific or political issue. It's both. The science is just science, though what you choose the measure and how you measure it can be influenced by politics. For the most part, politics comes in play when you interpret the data and, more importantly, starting considering ways to deal with the problem.
DeleteWhether he views climate change data objectively may not matter to his teaching. Apart from environmental or atmospheric chemistry, this topic would not be part of the curriculum. He was a good teacher before people knew what he thought about climate change. Unless he changed his teaching style concurrently with giving these talks as a climate change skeptic, then he's still a good teacher.
This is a tough case. If I were Nicholas Drapela's department chair, I'd be inclined to let him keep his job.
DeleteThe science in Dr. Drapela's slide presentation is obvious do-do. Indeed, there is almost no science in it, except the little bit about the solar cycle at the very end, and it is flat-out, factually wrong. That in itself is never a good sign: if he had a compelling science case, I'd expect him to put it at the beginning.
Nevertheless, if he doesn't mention any of it in his classes, I don't see a problem. If he had tenure, he couldn't be fired for his presentation, no more than Arthur Butz could be fired for his book, "The Hoax of the 20th Century," which he -never- mentioned in his numerical analysis course.
But Dr. Drapela doesn't have tenure. Even so, he shouldn't be fired for his views, because of something in America we call "Freedom of Speech." The problem is that, without tenure, he can be dismissed for no reason at all, like all too many other contingent faculty get dismissed, simply by not having their contracts renewed. The university probably isn't even required to give a reason to do this, it's all perfectly legal. So, let's hope the Wall Street Journal stops slamming tenure: it's essential for all faculty, not just left-wing radicals.
I know that tenure doesn't protect a geology or geography professor from teaching the world is flat, but he didn't do that, is he?
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