Denounced by Colleagues, Anti-Semitic Prof Threatens to Sue
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), Psychology Professor Kevin MacDonald (right) is facing from his colleagues for his anti-Semitic research. In the past month, both the Jewish Studies Program and the History Department have issued statements ( and ) specifically distancing themselves from MacDonaldâs hateful work. The Anthropology Department also has a statement under consideration. The statements all affirm MacDonaldâs right to academic freedom and his tenured position on the CSULB faculty.
MacDonaldâs views were outlined in the 2007 Intelligence Report ąđłćąč´Ç˛őĂŠ, which prompted his from teaching required undergraduate courses. MacDonald believes that Jews are impelled by genetic factors to undermine the majority populations of the societies they live in. In fact, MacDonald puts it like this in journalist Jon Entineâs new book, Abrahamâs Children: âJews do not act in the best interest of society. We need to systematically put in place some controls, call it discrimination if you will, to restore parity with other groups.â Since the turn of the millennium, MacDonald has also become a white supremacist activist. He has held leadership positions in several white supremacist groups, and in 2004 he was honored with a $10,000 prize for his work on the Jews by The Occidental Quarterly, a white supremacist publication where he currently serves on the .
The latest twist in the long-running saga of Kevin MacDonald â a man who has bitterly complained that his colleagues and others are trying to suppress his free speech and academic freedom with their criticism â is the professorâs threat to sue faculty members who have negative things to say about him. His legal threats have sown fear on the CSULB campus, causing other faculty members, particularly in the psychology department of which he is a part, to stifle their opinions of his work.
MacDonaldâs legal threats were made public in a memo () written by Psychology Department Chair Ken Green to his faculty earlier this month. Greenâs letter was directed to those department members considering issuing a statement that would formally disassociate the department from MacDonaldâs work. Several professors feel that the already posted on the department website that reiterate the departmentâs commitment to diversity and denounce the use of psychological research as propaganda for racist groups are inadequate for that purpose. Greenâs E-mail to his fellow faculty members instructed that MacDonaldâs threat of legal action âis a factor that should be reviewed and considered.â No offer of a legal defense was made by school officials.
Green summarized MacDonald lawyer Thomas J. Finchâs demand letter, entitled âCSULBâs Campaign to Stigmatize, Defame and Constructively Terminate Professor Kevin MacDonald.â Finch, a Colorado general practice lawyer, writes that MacDonald has received âabusive treatmentâ and been âdamagedâ by his colleaguesâ critiques of his work. According to Green, Finchâs letter complains that other faculty members have made âpejorative remarks about the scholarly integrity of [MacDonaldâs] workâ and that faculty are ââchillingâ the exercise of [MacDonaldâs] free speech rights and effectuating a âconstructiveâ termination of his employment.â The letter threatens a suit in federal court.
MacDonaldâs views were a major topic of discussion during a panel hosted by CSULBâs LGBT Resource Center this Monday, April 14, entitled, âHate Speech, Hate Crime and Far Right Movements.â Organized as part of the campusâ annual celebration of Diversity Week, several panelists MacDonaldâs work and asked the universityâs administration to also condemn it. As a participant on the panel, I called on CSULB President King Alexander to exercise his own freedom of speech by denouncing MacDonaldâs anti-Semitism and standing in solidarity with those faculty members who are being effectively silenced by MacDonaldâs threats of legal action.
So far, Alexander has declined to speak out publicly against MacDonaldâs work, though he has reportedly expressed concerns about it privately. Alexanderâs silence stands in contrast with the actions taken by many other university presidents faced with racists or anti-Semites on their tenured faculty. In 1999, for example, Florida State University (FSU) President Talbot âSandyâ DâAlemberte, a fierce advocate of free speech, publicly called the of psychology professor Glayde Whitney âvery distastefulâ and âvery troubling.â Whitney, now deceased, black people to be âbigger in bone, smaller in brainâ than whites. Whitney also authored a fawning introduction to neo-Nazi David Dukeâs 1998 autobiography, My Awakening. Whitney described the former Klan leaderâs plodding, 717-page tome as âa painstakingly documented, academically excellent work of socio-biological-political history that has the potential to ... change the very course of history.â To alleviate the concerns of minority students, FSU provided alternative instructors for students uncomfortable with taking Whitneyâs courses.
Regardless of his complaints, MacDonald seems to be quite freely exercising his own free speech rights. This month he began advertising his new book , published by the hate outfit, . The foreword is written by , MacDonaldâs good friend and a self-declared white separatist.
There were others exercising their free speech rights, too â the kind of people, apparently, who see Kevin MacDonald as their truth-telling hero. For his efforts in helping to organize the Monday panel on hate groups, Jewish Studies Program Director and History Professor found this comment on his voicemail: âYeah, Jeff, you dirty, slimy Jew, you should be afraid, ashamed, ashamed, of the way youâve attacked Dr. MacDonald. I think Iâm going to buy some more of his books, make sure he gets even more money. I can just tell you, America would be a much better place if all you sneaky, sneaky k---- would get the hell out.â