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How the bastards do it

Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University Posted on June 11, 2012 by Anthony Watts

Gordon Fulks sends this summary of the situation and asks that it be distributed. I=92m happy to oblige. For some background on Dr. Drapela=92s skeptical views, this slideshow =93Global Warming Cracked Open=94 might give some insight into OSU=92s booting him out. =96 Anthony

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From Gordon Fulks:

Hello Everyone,

In theory at least Oregon State University (OSU) seems to be a bastion of academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. A wide range of ideas are openly discussed. The most viable rise to the top and the least viable fade away. But it is all a fairy tale, because OSU operates under a politically correct regimen that dictates what is acceptable to say and what is not. Transgressors who dare to be different are eventually weeded out so that the campus maintains its ideological purity.

OSU is not yet as swift or efficient as the Soviet system when Joseph Stalin was trying to quash dissent among biologists who refused to go along with Trofim Lysenko. If warnings to compromise their integrity were not followed, Stalin simply had biologists shot. That quickly thinned the ranks of all biologists and persuaded the remaining ones to comply with Stalin=92s wishes. Of course, it also destroyed Soviet biology, because Lysenko was pedaling nonsense. And Russian biology has never recovered.

We learned over the weekend that chemist Nickolas Drapela, PhD has been summarily fired from his position as a =93Senior Instructor=94 in the Department of Chemistry. The department chairman Richard Carter told him that he was fired but would not provide any reason. Subsequent attempts to extract a reason from the OSU administration have been stonewalled. Drapela appears to have been highly competent and well- liked by his students. Some have even taken up the fight to have him reinstated.

What could possibly have provoked the OSU administration to take precipitous action against one of their academics who has been on their staff for ten years, just bought a house in Corvallis, and has four young children (one with severe medical problems)? Dr. Drapela is an outspoken critic of the theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming, the official religion of the State of Oregon, the Oregon Democratic Party, and Governor John Kitzhaber.

Five years ago, Oregon State Climatologist George Taylor went around quietly saying that he was not a believer. Then Governor Ted Kulongoski and many faculty at OSU including Dr. Jane Lubchenco made life impossible for Taylor, and he retired. (Lubchenco is now head of NOAA in the Obama administration.) Under those currently in charge, OSU climate research has grown to be a huge business, reportedly $90 million per year with no real deliverables beyond solid academic support for climate hysteria. A small army of researchers ponder the effects of Global Warming on all sorts of things from tube worms living along the Oregon Coast to butterflies inland. When the climate refuses to warm (as it has for the last twenty years), they just study =91warming in reverse!=92 Most of us call that =93cooling,=94 but they are very careful not to upset their Obama administration contract monitors with politically incorrect terminology.

Skeptics of Global Warming who oppose the OSU approach and oppose the politicians who make it all possible but do not work for OSU also find themselves attacked. Dr. Art Robinson who is running against Peter DeFazio for an Oregon Congressional seat found three of his children under attack at OSU. All were attempting to obtain advanced degrees in the Nuclear Engineering Department and were threatened with dismissal. Because Robinson fought back, we understand that the OSU administration backed down.

As to the latest victim of political correctness at OSU, Dr. Nickolas Drapela gives us an excellent synopsis of what is going on:

=93The fact of the matter is that it is now two weeks since I was fired and no one has had the cajones or the common courtesy to even tell me why. I have spoken with the Dept. Chair (Rich Carter) who fired me, and he refused to tell me why. I spoke to the Dean of Science (Vince Remcho) and he couldn=92t tell me why. I spoke to HR who set up a meeting with me, then cancelled it an hour before. Then I went to the Vice President of Academic Affairs (Becky Warner) and she sent me back to Rich Carter, the chemistry chair.

It=92s just a sad, sad state of affairs that an institution like OSU would fire a good employee for (ostensibly) no reason and then run around and hide from the person they fired. I had stellar teaching evaluations, I won College of Science awards for teaching, and published textbooks. My class sections were always full and I was well- liked by students (see ratemyprofessors.com). I was doing my job very well. But I guess I didn=92t march in step with their philosophies.

There were quite a few student protests over this at OSU (Barometer, Facebook, etc.) but to no avail.

I was given no severance and had no warning this was about to happen. In fact, I was lured into the chair=92s office under the guise of a fallacious story before being fired.

As you know, I was probably the most visibly-outspoken critic of the Global Warming doctrine at OSU. I gave several public talks on the topic and did research in the area which I regularly posted on the web. I was also on a few talk radio shows in the area. I think they finally just said, we can=92t have this.

Can it be that a university whose motto is =93Open minds. Open doors=94 cannot abide even one faculty member who disagrees with their dogma? I suppose I am too naive, but I=92m still reeling from it. Unbelievable.

I should say that they regularly read all my email communications, which is why I am writing from this private email address. That has been going on for quite some time now.

As far as my options at this point, like I said I haven=92t even really grasped what has just happened. I don=92t know what I=92m going to do, or what options I have yet. I=92m sure OSU wants their story to be tight and perfectly identical among all administration before coming out with an official reason why I was fired, hence the long wait and refusal to speak to me.

I truly thank you for your concern, and I hope there is some recourse, even just for the sake of exposing what is happening at OSU.=94

In a separate e-mail Drapela went on to say:

=93Thanks so much for your support and your concern. That=92s really nice. My students were all really upset about it. They started an email writing campaign to have me re-hired but I guess no one cares what they think.

I find that the people who want to keep things secret all the time are usually the people that have something to hide. It is certainly ok by me for you to disseminate this story. But I=92m sure OSU would be horrified.

I=92m not sure how I will support my family at this point. We just bought a house in Corvallis. I have four kids, one of whom has a rare, blood disorder and requires regular trips to Doernbecher=92s Children=92s Hospital for treatment. Now we will be without health insurance.=94

We can only speculate as to how the decision to fire Drapela was made. Unlike the decision to force Taylor out (which came from the governor=92s office), this decision was likely internal to OSU with the implicit backing of Governor Kitzhaber and NOAA administrator Lubchenco. I would suspect that Dr. Phil Mote (Director of their Climate Change Research Institute) had a hand in the decision, because he has previously been highly intolerant of those who oppose his ideas and could potentially threaten his business empire.

Please join with me in supporting Nick Drapela. Please join with me in supporting objective science, as well as academic freedom, diversity, and tolerance. The issues here go far beyond just Global Warming and strike at the very heart of who we are as scientists and Americans.

Gordon J. Fulks, PhD (Physics) Corbett, Oregon USA

P.S. Please circulate this e-mail far and wide. The world needs to know what is going on here.

Reply to
Roger
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**Do you have any evidence to support the claim that Drapela was sacked because he has some anti-science beliefs? Of are you simply accepting the word of a fossil fuel apologist (Watts) (and a well paid one, at that)?

Still, it is odd that a chemistry professor is so staunchly anti-science and pro-relgion. I'd certainly expect a lot more from an allegedly intelligent person.

--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

Oh just kill yourself tweva you fsking tosspot

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Reply to
atec77

**A response that was anticipated, given your (lack of) education. Rather than discuss science intelligently, you resort to (incredibly poorly spelt) insult. Congratulations. You are a credit to your teachers. 
--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

Liar

Show me yours and then I will show you mine or perhaps you have nothing more than a very old minimal trade paper written on parchment ? Now in-protest you now how to finish it all -

Strawman as usual you wanker

> 
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Reply to
atec77

because he has some anti-science beliefs?

Anti-science ? You poor deluded fool, the nature of science is to ask questions and then ask them again, not to leap to politically correct conclusions. Al Gore delivered the biggest anti-science load of bullshit ever, you probably believed every lie contained in his blatant propoganda.

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Reply to
Yaputya

because he has some anti-science beliefs?

That's not a list.

. That's a list!

With acknowledgement to Crocodile Dundee .

Reply to
Gordon Levi

because he has some anti-science beliefs?

**Yes. Anti-science. There is an overwhelming support from scientists, that validate the theory of AGW. Dissenters include Tony Abbott, George Pell, Nick Minchin, George W Bush and the rest of the religious nutters. Scientists, OTOH, look at the science.

You poor deluded fool,

**Just because I accept science as the arbiter of a scientific theory, rather than what some talk-back radio host claims, that does not mean I am deluded. Logical, reasonable and rational, perhaps, but not deluded.

the nature of science is to ask questions

**Indeed. AGW hypothesis was first proposed by Fourier in the 19th century. Experiments were conducted to validate the hypothesis. By the early 1980s, solid data was collated to further solidify the theory. Predictions were made in the early 1980s, that have been shown to be remarkably accurate. Predictions made today will be validated in 100 years.

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not to leap to politically correct conclusions.

**Al Gore is a politician, not a scientist. I listen to scientists, in matters of science. Unlike you, I don't pay attention to religious nutters, talk-back radio hosts or politicians in matters of science. Unlike you, I have an education and I use it.

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**Why should I care what a bunch of dentists, osteopaths and mechanical engineers think about AGW? I am far more interested in what CLIMATOLOGISTS think about CLIMATE. 
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Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

snipped-for-privacy@mid.> >> Climate skeptic instructor fired from Oregon State University

=92s

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because he has some anti-science beliefs?

stions

bably

You are 100% right about TW being deluded and AGW being a giant scam, but y= ou are wasting time trying to reason with Trevor. We have been through this= before. Trevor is very delusional about this subject and has solid belief = in this AGW rubbish. You won't convince him otherwise. He worships rubbis= h like this, with a passion that makes the pope look like an atheist and wi= ll repeatedly throw discredited sources at you over and over again, not to = mention irrelevence like religion. (ironically he shows all the hallmarks o= f a religious believer when it comes to the subject of AGW). I guess this = is because christian principles are based on a couple of things like "not l= ying, not bearing false witness, and not stealing". Warmists promote all 3= of these things. =20

Reply to
kreed

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**Not at all. I am always interested in examining the SCIENCE as it pertains to AGW.

We have been

**"AGW rubbish"? Do tell. Present your peer-reviewed science that disproves everything the following organisations have stated about AGW:

CSIRO The Australian Academy of Science BoM NASA The US EPA The US National Academy of Sciences American Meteorological Society IPCC The UK Met The European Academy of Sciences and Arts The Royal Society of New Zealand The Royal Society of the UK American Association for the Advancement of Science American Chemical Society American Institute of Physics American Physical Society Australian Institute of Physics European Physical Society European Foundation Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies

You won't convince him

**Can't be helped. Tony Abbott, Nick Minchin, George Pell and George W Bush are religious fruitcakes. They all share your view and and consistently anti-science. Like you.

(ironically he shows all the hallmarks of a religious

**Huh? Just because I cite science as my reference, that does not make me religious. Science is an evidence-based study. If you wish to present your peer-reviewed evidence that disputes AGW theory, then do your best. We're all waiting.

I guess this is

**Cite your peer-reviewed evidence that counters AGW science. 
--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

That isn't anti-science. Science isn't determined by democratic vote. Learn some science history and it will quicly become obvios that just because "everyone" believes it to be so, doesn't make it so.

Also, keep in kind that looking for figures to support AGW has been the prime focus of the scientific establishment for over thrity years.

Reply to
terryc

Too narrow. you need a wider focus.

Reply to
terryc

**Why? The science tells us that AGW is a problem. Religious leaders, some politicians, talk-back radio hosts and morons claim the science is wrong. 
--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

**You are aware of what the term: 'overwhelming support' means, don't you? There is not a shred of doubt amongst climatologists that AGW is a reality.
**Wrong. The investigation has stretched over 150 years. The data is irrefutable. The only hoildouts are politicians, talk-back radio hosts, religious leaders and morons. 
--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

Wrong!! all the people you mentioned are not experts in the field and they all get their information from experts who differ from your holy grail the CSIRO etc

Reply to
F Murtz

You notice he wont tell us what formal qualifications he himself has to make such royal pontification on the matters

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Reply to
atec77

** TW's missus works ( or used to work) as a Scientific Officer for this mob:

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Attached to the Bureau of Meteorology and popularly known as the " Ionospheric Prediction Service ".

Much loved by radio hams et alia.

... Phil

Reply to
Phil Allison

Being a receptionist assistant does not a scientist make

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Reply to
atec77

Lets face it nobody pontificating on climate change on Usenet, no matter which side of the argument they are on, has any relevant qualifications at all.

Most just believe what they want to believe and go looking for "Evidence" to support their pre-conceived notions.

Reply to
keithr

**Then prove it. Cite your peer-reviewed evidence.

all the people you mentioned are not experts in the field and

**Cite your evidence. 
--
Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au
Reply to
Trevor Wilson

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