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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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From: LindyBill7/30/2006 5:05:22 PM
   of 793896
 
No conservatives need apply
Critical Mass Blog
By Erin O'Connor

SUNY Fredonia's denial of promotion to conservative philosophy professor Stephen Kershnar has grabbed the higher education scandal headlines this week--but Kershnar's is not the only such case unfolding right now. There are intriguingly parallel developments at the University of Kansas:

"A judge has denied Kansas University's request for dismissal of a lawsuit by a professor who says he didn't get tenure because his colleagues disliked his Republican politics.

KU attorneys argued that Jeffrey Olafsen's suit, filed early this year in District Court, should be thrown out because it wasn't filed on time.

They argued that when Olafsen received a letter in March 2005 denying him tenure, it was a "final agency action" and that he had only 30 days in which to file a lawsuit.

But Olafsen argued KU's final action didn't come until late 2005, when he lost his appeal to a campuswide tenure committee. He filed the suit shortly afterward.

In a ruling this week, Judge Jack Murphy agreed with Olafsen. He wrote that just because KU called the March 2005 letter a final action "does not necessarily make it so."

Olafsen, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, claims while his tenure was being considered, the department head suggested Olafsen was to blame for research funding cuts because of his support for President Bush. No trial date has been set.

In addition to being a Republican, Olafsen is religious--something else he claims counted against him in his tenure bid."

There isn't much information available about Olafsen's case, but that's to be expected, given the confidential nature of both tenure review and lawsuits. But this one will be worth watching.
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