The Faculty Senate will hold an emergency meeting today at 3:30 p.m. in the Kiva Lecture Hall to discuss professor Richard Berthold's Sept. 11 statement to his class that "anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote."
Faculty Senate President John Geissman is encouraging all faculty members to attend the meeting to discuss Berthold and the issues regarding his statement.
"There's been so much discussion via the Daily Lobo and by e-mail," Geissman said. "I just think it is important to have an open and honest discussion about the situation. Some action may come from this, but I don't know. It's up to them."
Sen. Peter Dorato, of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, said he had mixed feelings about the meeting. He said he would like to see the Senate pass a resolution expressing its feelings about the situation. He said he would prefer to see the matter go through the proper channels, such as a formal hearing through either the Academic Freedom and Tenure or the Faculty Ethics and Advisory Committee.
Dorato said he would like the Board of Regents to hear the Senate's opinion before making its decision. Dorato expressed some concern over the issue of faculty members' freedom of speech.
"One of our precious freedoms, especially for somebody at a university, is freedom of speech to say what one believes," he said. "That is something that is important."
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Melissa Bokovoy, who is a history professor and a member of the Academic Freedom and Tenure Committee, said any time the faculty discusses academic freedom and freedom of speech it is an important meeting. She said that, as a faculty member, she hoped Berthold's case would follow proper disciplinary procedures.
Bokovoy said that a normal procedure would be for a faculty member to bring the issue to her committee in confidentiality and it would hold a hearing. She said it is important for the University to adhere to the disciplinary guidelines for faculty members.
"My understanding is that there are clearly established procedures to review the conduct of any faculty member and that is what we should as faculty and administration follow - those long established procedures," Bokovoy said.
