Statement on Erik Loomis

I wish to associate myself with this. Well-said.

I contacted Louis Kirschenbaum, head of the URI AAUP (Louis J. Kirschenbaum ) and received the following back:
Many thanks for your message. The AAUP has already expressed our disappointment in the President’s statement. We have asked for a second statement of the University’s commitment to free speech.

Much appreciated. (Not that I expected any less of you lot.)

I wish to associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis

I’ll send letters to the URI admins, but want to indicate public support for this statement. The same conservative headhunters who defend Sarah Palin and Wayne LaPierre (and Ann Coulter and…) as “patriots” now are co-opting the term “eliminationist” because they got hammered by it. The disingenuity would be stunning if it weren’t so typical. And for URI’s admin to be responding to it this way? We’ve heard this story before: Normal Finkelstein; Bob Jensen; that list goes on and on too.

Let me add myself to the list of people supporting this excellent statement. Perhaps you should allow others to sign on?

I associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis and fully support his right–indeed his obligation–to speak out as a public intellectual.

I emailed the university president last night about this, expressing similar sentiments. I am sure your support is much appreciated by all who support freedom of speech and academic freedom. We cannot allow brown shirts on a jihad to dominate what scholars do and say.

Consider this a co-sign: I endorse this wholeheartedly.

I wish to associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis

This is what I wrote to the admins:

Please support Erik Loomis, and do it quickly. It’s your job.

I want Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick too.

I support this statement and stand with Erik.

I stand with Erik. He deserves an apology from the university for the cowardly and incorrect statement they issued.

I agree, wholeheartedly, and wish to associate myself with this.

For various reasons (the most important one that I’m not living in North America), I haven’t followed this. Assuming the facts as reported here are correct (and I have no reason to doubt this!), I wholeheartedly endorse this statement.

I stand wholeheartedly behind this statement.

I too join in the statement and stand in solidarity with Erik. An injury to one is an injury to all.

I completely agree with this statement in support of Erik Loomis.

I associate myself with this statement and stand with Erik.

I endorse this statement in support of Erik Loomis.

Gregory Hays, University of Virginia

(And if you’re going to append the original post to include all the people who openly support it, feel free to do so with my name and institution. I meant to indicate as much in my original comment.)

I fully agree with the content of this post.

However, there is this statement:
“It also speaks to a broader set of rights to speak freely without the fear of being fired for controversial views that many of us have been flagging for years” and “the protections of the First Amendment require our collective enforcement, and that all employers—particularly, in this kind of case, university employers—have a special obligation to see that freedom of speech become a reality of everyday life.”

When John Derbishyre was fired for speaking freely his controversial views, many of the bloggers here and at LGM cheered.

…of the College of Saint rose.

I associate myself with this eloquent and unanswerable statement.

I associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis.

I associate myself with this and with what Erik Loomis said.

I want to support this statement and Erik Loomis

Just want to applaud CT for this post. I just wrote to the Prez:

Dear President Dooley,

I am just writing to express my disappointment in the way that URI has handled the faux-controversy that right-wing bloggers have created around Erik Loomis’ completely harmless and obvious hyperbolic tweet that said he wanted “Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick”; claiming that it is anything other than the fairly obvious use of a colloquial phrase commonly interpreted as a call for responsibility.

After 20 children were ruthlessly shot down last week, it is time for the gun lobby and more specifically the NRA to be held accountable for the America they have created. Erik’s tweet made an important point that needs to be shouted from the rooftops of our country. THE NRA NEVER PAYS!! The families hurt, the community suffers, the rest of the country empathizes and we all have to go about being a lot less safe, both physically and psychologically. Aside from the victims, their families, and the first-responders, you know who gets hit the worst? The entire public education system. Teacher’s and parents living in fear, administrations faced with security concerns and an overall environment that is not conducive to learning.

As a key member of the educational system, URI should be standing with their professor’s right to free speech, rather than cow-towing to obvious attempts by right-wing hysterics to continue to feed the Greedy-Liberal-Ivory-Tower-Academics myth that they have been using for decades to attack teachers, their unions, and the very concept of fact-based education for all.

I hope the University will change their tune and show some respect to their staff, and the parents and students of America, rather than the screaming lunatics who are just trying to smear Professor Loomis and further their stereotype of Academia.

I wrote to the administrators and will get a post up on my own blog.

I support this statement.

My email below:

Dear leadership of the University of Rhode Island,

Your statement regarding the Erik Loomis situation suggests that you have not actually read the tweet that is at issue, but instead just read the howling critics describing some visceral threat.

What he said is that he wanted Wayne LaPierre’s “head on a stick.” This is not a “threat of violence,” as you described it in your statement, but a metaphor or an allusion conveying a demand that the NRA to be held accountable for recent gun violence. Actually placing an individual’s head on a stick is a violent practice unknown to recent centuries; it is certainly too remote to actually be feared as a threat by anyone reading his words in good faith.

Whether holding the NRA accountable for such violence is appropriate is a separate question, one wholly within a professor’s purview to comment on.

I would not have expected the leadership of a major university to be so easily fooled. By indulging critics who maliciously misinterpret his rhetorical call for accountability as a literal threat of violence, you have chilled the public discourse regarding this topic for Professor Loomis in particular, and probably others as well.

I hope and anticipate you will issue a corrective statement announcing you firmly support academic freedom, and will not let your professors be cowed by deliberately ignorant misreadings of his words.

Free speech without strings attached. I support the speech of Loomis. I support the speech of Glenn Reynolds. Loomis should not lose his job for speaking freely. He is entitled to his opinions and outrage. Email to the university sent.

If you’re looking for affiliations: Ben Alpers, University of Oklahoma

(and thanks for the clarification, Henry @16! I should have figured as much from the conclusion of the statement itself)

I’m a nobody, but I’ll be emailing immediately and I wish to associate myself with this statement. Well said!

First thing I thought of President Dooley’s statement was that he appeared to be throwing Eric under the bus on this one. Nice to take a break from all the tweets about tossing seniors over the fiscal cliff to say that I also fully support this statement.

Thanks for this.

I wholeheartedly endorse this statement.

David Watkins
University of Dayton

I’m proud to stand with Erik Loomis.

I think he was wrong, but you and I get to decide that for ourselves. Free speech is about the right of us to HEAR, just as much as the right of others to SAY, things we disagree with. It’s our privilege and responsibility to think for ourselves and not to have others’ opinions and ideas filtered through institutional and state censors. No one should lose their job or be pressured into silence for expressing a controversial opinion.

Daniel Bier
Rutgers University-Camden
Editor-at-Large
The Skeptical Libertarian

I wholeheartedly support this statement.

I fully and without reservation associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis. I wrote the President of URI early this morning; I will now forward that e-mail to the Dean and Provost.

Lee Rudolph
Professor Emeritus and Research Professor
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts

[(1) The above lines are for identification; they are not meant to imply that Clark University, its faculty, administration, or trustees, in any way endorses my opinions. (2) I would be distressed and disgusted if, in fact, my opinions are not endorsed by any of the named parties.]

I stand with Eric Loomis.

Joan McCarter
Daily Kos

Erik was passionate and intemperate after hearing news of the mass shooting of children by firearms. A couple of days later, pro-gun websites are self-righteous and gleeful after driving him off the web and putting his job on the line.

The gun lobby: never knowingly missing an opportunity to demonstrate their astonishing ethical myopia.

Please add my name, because I don’t believe metaphoric violence is even comparable to actual violence.

I endorse this statement in support of Erik Loomis.

I support Erik Loomis and the statement.

solidarity with erik loomis, right here.

Thank you for this, and I stand behind this statement, behind Erik, and quite frankly, behind Erik’s sentiments without equivocation.

I am in support of this statement.

John Aho
Los Angeles, CA

I support academic freedom, the statement, and Erik Loomis.

I support this statement, and academic freedom in general.

I support Erik Loomis. I wrote the following letter to the URI administrators:

Dear President Dooley, Provost DeHayes, and Dean Brownell:

I write with regard to recent attacks on one of your most dedicated, brilliant and productive faculty members, Assistant Professor of History Erik Loomis. I have known Loomis for more than a decade. He was my doctoral student, and of the dozens of students I have mentored in nearly a quarter of a century of teaching at the University of New Mexico, Loomis stands at the top. He is a gifted and passionate teacher, an insightful scholar of labor history, a great colleague and deeply committed citizen. Now he is under attack, facing death threats, due to a metaphor he used in a blog post. He did absolutely nothing wrong, did not threaten anyone’s life. The idea that he would do so is preposterous, cynical, and inflammatory.

Erik Loomis writes a widely read and respected, award-winning blog. He uses history to think about contemporary politics, and writes with force and clarity. He does not make things up for effect, as so many political bloggers do. At my public university, we encourage our faculty to make use of new media to engage the public and disseminate knowledge in their disciplines. I can think of no historian who has done so more effectively, and with more scholarly seriousness, than Loomis. He can be blunt, and I don’t always agree with him, but he invites real debate.

Your statement disavowing his comments struck me as defensive at least, and disappointing in all events. Some people who disagree with Loomis are using this opportunity to use him as a scapegoat for their crusade for unregulated firearms sales. I expect the death threats (and these are REAL, as opposed to the completely fabricated threats Loomis’s stalkers accuse him of making) make you nervous, so you can only imagine how Professor Loomis must feel. In other words, this is the very moment to offer strong support for one of your most vulnerable junior faculty members.

On September 11, 2001, my own UNM colleague, Associate Professor of HIstory Richard Berthold, told his 8 a.m. class the following: “Anyone who bombs the Pentagon is okay with me.” He was so proud of his wit, that he came into my office, repeated the statement to my administrative assistant, and then repeated it again for his 11 a.m. class. You can imagine the reaction. Berthold’s classes were cancelled for weeks. We, his colleagues, had to go into the classrooms to notify his students that he would not be around, all the while looking over our shoulders for the people who said they wanted to come into his classes and kill him. Campus police gave our staff and faculty security training (locked doors, be careful when opening mail, watch for suspicious looking substances or packages), while Berthold received police protection, continued to make outrageous and inflammatory statements, and laid low. Everyone was appalled by his stupid, arrogant, insensitive behavior, his egotistical willingness to put his students and our staff, particularly, at risk. The threats and the fear continued for months, and affected all of us more than we know.

For its part, the UNM administration did exactly what it should have done. It affirmed his right to speak his mind, not only under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but also as a matter of academic freedom. His words were irresponsible, wounding, and foolish, but UNM backed him up, and rightly so.

Public universities, and the humanities in particular, face a lot of uninformed opposition these days. In Florida, the governor thinks learning history is a luxury. We need people like Erik Loomis, who engage a broad public in serious discussions illuminated with historical perspective. You owe him your full support.

Respectfully yours,

Virginia Scharff
Distinguished Professor of History and Director, Center for the Southwest
Department of History MSC 06 3760
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

As a University of Rhode Island alum, I am deeply disappointed by the President’s statement and the university’s general lack of support for Dr. Loomis’s free political expression.

I stand in solidarity with Loomis, and support this statement.

Thanks for this. I support Erik.

Stated better than I ever could. I stand completely with this statement and my colleague Erik Loomis.

Dave Brockington
University of Plymouth

Sign me on.

I wholeheartedly endorse this statement.

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

It is a sad day when a University feigns naivete towards a figure of speech in order to avoid an important public debate and isolate a member of its faculty. A University betrays its mission when it refuses honest dialogue and chooses instead to flee the scene of discourse.

I support the statement, and have sent a message to the relevant administrators.

Matt Lister,
Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Denver, Sturm College of Law

I support the position of CROOKED TIMBER — and that of Eric Loomis as well.

I stand with Erik Loomis.

I stand in solidarity with Erik.

Dr Mark Bahnisch
School of Medicine and School of Population Health
The University of Queensland, Australia

I support this statement.

I wholeheartedly support Erik. Letters have been sent. We are with you friend.

Ryan Edgington
Environmental Studies
Macalester College
Saint Paul, MN

Posted earlier, but wanted to leave my full name. No academic affiliations, but I have enjoyed reading Loomis’s posts at LG&M and stand with him over this fabricated controversy.

Agree!

Robert Tarzwell
Clinical Assistant Professor
Faculty of Medicine
University of British Columbia

I support this statement.

Robert Guay
Binghamton University

I support this statement without reservation.

I stand with Erik. Emailed the president and the dean to say as much.

I absolutely endorse this statement and stand in solidarity with Erik Loomis.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement.
Matt Zwolinski
University of San Diego

Please add my name in support.
Kate Tunstall, University of Oxford.

I endorse this statement whole-heartedly.

Jacob Schiff
Assistant Professor of Politics
Oberlin College
Oberlin, OH

I endorse this statement

Thomas Lumley
Professor of Biostatistics
University of Auckland.

[This is not intended to imply that the University of Auckland agrees with me or even has a view on the issue.]

I support this statement.

I am proud to stand with Erik Loomis.

(Note to URI President and Officials: I’m not literally in close physical proximity to Mr. Loomis. I suspect we are, in fact, located in different states. By my statement I’m intending to express support for Mr. Loomis’s right to free political expression. For further questions about how metaphor works, please consult your English department.)

I wish to associate myself with this statement .
Carole Kennedy
Associate Professor
San Diego State University

I agree with this statement. (Formerly a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin)

I unwaveringly support this statement.

Signing on, yes.

Firm, polite emails sent. Great statement.

I support Erik Loomis. What he said was clearly figurative. We as a nation will be much the poorer if there are certain allusions to which we may no longer refer without endangering our employment. That his political opponents have been able to represent his remarks as a threat is both disturbing and astonishing.

David Derbes
physics teacher,
University of Chicago Laboratory Schools

I too, for whatever my non-academic voice is worth, stand with Prof. Loomis and express intense disappointment with the cowardice of the URI President.

I stand with Erik Loomis. Go Ducks!

I wish to endorse this statement.

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

I fully support Erik Loomis, and agree completely with the statement above.

Supported!

Co-signed. The forced miscomprehension of Loomis’s attackers is farcical. The cowardice of the administration would rise to the level of farce if it did not cast a very real pall over free expression.

I unreservedly support Erik Loomis. What a frightening country this would be if the NRA dictated the policies/personnel of our universities.
Sharon Dale
Associate Professor
The Pennsylvania State University

I support this Professor Loomis.

Donald A. Thumim, PhD

I wish to associate myself with this statement, with academic freedom, and with free speech, free minds, and sanity.

I associate myself with this statement.

– Amy Fried, Professor of Political Science, University of Maine

Count me in.
Julian Sanchez
Cato Institute

I wish to associate myself with the statement.

Prof. Joseph M. Schwartz
Department of Political Science
Temple University

I wholeheartedly agree with this post.

I stand with Eric Loomis against this outrageously dishonest campaign of persecution. I endorse particularly the following remarks from the above statement:

Even to suggest that Loomis’s tweet constitutes a “threat of violence” is an offense against the English language. We are dismayed that the university president completely fails to acknowledge the importance of academic freedom and of scholars’ freedom independently to express views (even intemperate ones) on topics of public importance.

This campaign is patently not a manifestation of genuine fear; it is, instead, an attempt to inspire fear not only in Loomis but in anyone else who might wish to engage in candid dialogue on political issues.

Douglas D. Edwards, PhD, PharmD

I support this statement.

I stand firmly with Prof Erik Loomis.

Patrick S. O’Donnell
Santa Barbara City College

I stand with Erik Loomis.

I wholeheartedly support this statement.

Professor Loomis’ statement was appropriate given the circumstances. I have read his tweet multiple times and can find nothing violent or threatening in it. I fully support his right to free speech and to academic freedom. I disagree with the University’s stand on this issue. I am with you Erik.

Figure of speech.
Freedom of speech.
Shameful University of Rhode Island does not support Professor Loomis – I do.

I support free speech. And metaphors.

Janice McCoy
PhD Candidate, English
University of Virginia

I also stand with Erik.

I endorse this statement. As a copyeditor of academic books, I hope someday to work on his collected “Today in Labor History” posts.

I never thought anything would make me speak up in defense of Erik Loomis, of all people, but a repellent witch hunt to get him fired over absolutely nothing – a clear threat to academic freedom to boot – has accomplished this.

I wholeheartedly endorse and associate myself with this statement. What is being done to Loomis is obviously intended to intimidate, not just Loomis, but also everyone else who uses vivid, conversational political speech to criticize the powerful.

Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Senior Editor
Tor Books / Macmillan Publishers

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

I support this statement

Sam Crane
Political Science
Williams College

Even if “head on a stick” is a metaphor, Loomis is still in the wrong in a way that is unbecoming of a professor of anything–and not just because he replaced his metaphor with nearly equally repugnant positions. (Round ’em up!)

There is a trade-off between deterrence and self defense on he one hand and vulnerability to spree shootings on the other. If we blame the NRA for spree shootings, shall we blame Erik Loomis for home invasions, muggings, and rapes in places where gun crontrol is too strict? Is Loomis responsible for the beating of Mary Shepard?

I also support this statement

Michael Yarbrough
Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology, Yale University

I endorse this statement and support Erik Loomis.

although I have no academic creds, as someone who’s industry is hailed by the right as a beacon of free speech, I’m proud to have had him on first and many times since

I support Erik and condemn anyone who uses our platform for witch hunts instead of issues.

Brett Banditelli
Executive Producer, The Rick Smith Show

Please add my name in support.

In place of #73;

I stand with Erik Loomis and this statement

Robert Grigjanis

I support this statement.

I support this statement.

I also stand with this statement, and would like to note that protecting this seems to be very much in line with the way UK legislation is heading as far as abusive/inflammatory/provocative etc comments on social media is concerned. Loomis’s tweet doesn’t contain an actual threat of violence, does not seriously call on anyone to carry out an act of violence on his behalf, nor does it seem to harass Mr LaPierre. Goddammit, this is free speech.

100% in support.

I support this statement and call on the Dean, Provost and President of URI to issue a clear statement condemning the attacks on Professor Loomis and supporting the right of URI Faculty members to free speech.

Kevin McDonough
McGill University

I’d like to be associated with your statement. Thanks for giving us the opportunity!

I too stand with Erik Loomis and this statement.

Mehmet Kucukozer

How shameful for a university to respond in this craven way to the ravings of demagogues. I stand with Erik Loomis.

John Grant, writer

I stand in support of Erik Loomis, as I, too, would like to see Wayne LaPierre called before committees in the House and Senate and forced to answer tough questioning on how his organization’s lobbying against any reasonable gun safety legislation has contributed to an epidemic of gun violence…with the ensuing public outrage over the naturally unsatisfactory nature of his answers putting pressure on him to step down and on the NRA to change their policies and appoint a more moderate leader, easing the pressure on Congress and paving the way for sensible gun safety legislation and culminating in an increase in public safety. 

Because a scenario like THAT is what is routinely meant by calling for someone’s head on a stick in 21st century America.

As a Loomis on my mother’s side: Don’t frack with Loomises! We have real power in New England. Don’t test us.

I support Prof. Loomis and, as a longtime URI employee, am dismayed at the lack of support offered y our administration when a colleague is under attack. An educational institution whose motto is “Think Big” should be encouraging open discussion rather than shutting it down by implying that Eric was in fact encouraging literal violence. Our students, as well as our faculty, deserve better.

Dr. Miriam Reumann
Lecturer, Dept. of History
The University of Rhode Island

I, too, wish to associate myself with this statement.

Loomis’s statement is obviously rhetoric and well within the traditional limits of free speech. I support his right to speak as he did without reservation.

I stand with this statement in support of Prof Loomis.

I don’t always comment on Crooked Timber, but when I do, it’s to endorse Erik Loomis.

The right to criticize is of enormous importance in our society. I stand with Professor Loomis on this issue and am deeply dissappointed in the PR driven response of URI.

I support this statement wholeheartedly.

Francis Spufford
Goldsmiths College, University of London

I stand with Erik Loomis and against the silencing of democratic dissent.

Alexander Livingston
Department of Government
Cornell University

I strongly endorse this statement.

It is shocking that the administrative leadership of a University should respond in this way to an attack on the free speech of one of its staff, and the response compounds the attack. The attack on Loomis is so obviously based on a bad-faith reading of a metaphor that it is hard to believe that anyone entrusted with academic responsibilities would give credence to the perverse reading by disassociating themselves from it. The reputation of URI will suffer unless this is speedily corrected.

Bernard Sufrin, Magdalen and Worcester Colleges, University of Oxford. Sometime elected member of the University of Oxford Audit and Scrutiny Committee.

I endorse this statement.

Deen Freelon
Assistant Professor
American University School of Communication

It is a depressing indictment of the University of Rhode Island’s academic integrity that some “web-log” has to call on them to act like the institution of higher learning they otherwise pretend to be. I’m glad to associate myself with the adults in this room, and I hope Dr. David M. Dooley decides to join us.

I support the CT statement and condemn URI’s apparent willingness to undercut the rights of their faculty.

I endorse this statement. Not the first (or last) time that we must fight against Universities’ political pressure to quash dissent.

Please add my name.

Leo Casey
Albert Shanker Institute

I absolutely stand with Professor Loomis and support this statement.

Colin Edgington
College of Staten Island, CUNY

I fully endorse this statement.

If the protections of free speech extended to tenured professors are to mean anything, they must be extended to untenured professors as well.

This would be true for Eric Loomis even if he were not a scholar whose posts (on labor history, in particular) I eagerly consult.

M. C. Hoppin
Williams College
Williamstown, MA

I strongly endorse this statement (and thank its authors for composing it).

Patchen Markell
Associate Professor of Political Science
The University of Chicago

I endorse this statement in every particular.

The cynical and mendacious attacks on Erik Loomis’s language, which in many cases are being made by bloggers who have long been in the habit of casually using such language themselves, is an attempt to suppress not only Erik Loomis, and current debate about current events, but the existence of a free public discourse.

Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Consulting Editor, Tor Books

I support this statement.

Dr Chris A. Williams
The Open University, UK

I support this statement.

Naadir Jeewa
University College London

Please add my name to this statement.

Albion Lawrence
Associate Professor of Physics
Brandeis University

I fully support this statement.
Christopher Cassidy
Associate Professor, New Media & Design
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

I wish to associate myself with the above comments in defense of Erik Loomis. URI should not retaliate against him in any way, shape or form in support of the NRA’s malicious smear campaign.

I endorse this statement wholeheartedly.

Angus Johnston
Hostos Community College
City University of New York

Count me in.

Anthony Paul Smith
La Salle University

I support this statement and stand with Erik Loomis.

I’m proud to stand with Mr. Loomis.

I stand with Erik.

I support this statement and have e-mailed the administrators.

Emily Pawley
Dickinson College

I completely support this statement, and Mr. Loomis.

Following Uncle Kvetch and DrDick above; I fully endorse this statement.

-Christopher Alario

I support this statement.

Tom Hilde
School of Public Policy
University of Maryland

I endorse this statement and call on the administration of the University of Rhode Island to throw out the corporate PR manual and to defend Dr.Loomis’s right to speak as a public intellectual.

Erik is a friend and a colleague; I stand with him 110%.

Here is what I emailed:

subj: Please stand for academic freedom of speech (Erik Loomis matter)‏

Dear Mr. Dooley, Mr. DeHays, and Ms. Brownell,

I have for some time followed the online writings of your professor Erik Loomis. He is uniquely knowledgeable about US labor history and about many other historic and political matters. His February 2012 post on Anthony Comstock and his legacy should give some idea of both the depth of his knowledge and his of willingness to speak in personal as well historical terms. This is what makes his historical writings vivid and useful to non-academic readers such as myself.

I understand that Prof. Loomis recently tweeted: “I was heartbroken in the first 20 mass murders. Now I want Wayne LaPierre’s head on a stick”, referring to the Sandy Hook Massacre. He is now being attacked for the tweet. Most notably by right wing activist Michelle Malkin’s website “Twitchy.com“, as well as the conservative group CampusReform.org. These individuals attacking Mr. Loomis are activists looking to hurt his employment as part of their political agenda.

I understand that it is troubling to have your institution attacked over the writings of one professor. But I feel it is important to keep in mind that Prof. Loomis was not actually calling for Wayne LaPierre’s assassination, he was using emotional language to make a statement. It is not reasonable to believe that someone would attempt to kill Mr. LaPierre as a consequence of Loomis’s tweet. I empathize with the troublesome nature of this situation, and the pressure his critics are putting you under. But I must ask that you please protect the academic free speech of Prof. Loomis, so that he can continue to create vivid writings about US history.

Sincerely,

Aaron Dellutri

I support this statement.

Patrick L. Wintrode
University of Maryland

To add to 214 –

My fullest support to Erik Loomis

Kim Klimek
Asst Professor of History
Metropolitan State University of Denver

I support Erik Loomis.

I support this statement and freedom of expression.

Carson Morris
MA, Latin American Studies
Doctoral Candidate, History Dept.
University of New Mexico

I endorse this statement in support of Erik Loomis’ right to speak out.

Patrick O’Mahen
PhD. Candidate
University of Michigan

I associate myself with this statement, and support Erik Loomis, whose work continues to be a credit to his university.
d.bimler@massey.ac.nz

This is exactly the kind of speech that needs to be protected in the academy, even if it is not particularly polite or measured. It is obvious that Erik Loomis did not intend actual physical threats, and I would like to think that Deans, Provosts, and Presidents can understand the concept of metaphorical speech. If you do not protect his right to say these things your institution will lose all credibility. The next thing, creationists will be calling for dismissal of biology professors who teach evolution. It is a slippery slope, what lies at the bottom is truly ugly, and you would be best to stay firmly on the flat summit.

Stuart E Dryer
John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished Professor
Department of Biology and Biochemistry
University of Houston

I’m not affiliated with any college but I disagree strongly with this harassment of a professor for his political speech. I stand with Erik Loomis.

As an alumnus of the University of Rhode Island (anthropology. 1995) I fully endorse this statement.

Joshua Beatty
SUNY Plattsburgh

The statement has my full support.

Professor Colin Wight
University of Sydney.

I support this statement.

Wayne A. Moore
Stanford University

I support Erik Loomis. His anger is my anger.

I concur with the statement regarding Erik Loomis. Understanding his use of a common figure of speech should have been a cakewalk.

I usually comment pseudonymously. This is not the time for that. I support this statement.

Signed,
Chad Rector
Assistant Professor of Politics and History
Marymount University

I would like to add my name to the list. This assault on academic freedom is offensive in the extreme.

I support it.

I endorse this statement without reservation.

William Clare Roberts
Assistant Professor of Political Science
McGill University

I associate myself with this statement, and against idiocy, and hypocrisy. I bet it is the same people whom complain about political correctness on campus. I would like to see their heads on a stick, and no I am not engaging in eliminationist rhetoric.

Count me in.
Jeffrey Shoulson
Konover Chair in Judaic Studies
Professor of Literatures, Culture, and Languages
Professor of English
University of Connecticut

My kids will be off to college in the next few years. I would be thrilled if they had Dr. Loomis as a professor of history and I will make URI aware of this when their website is restored.

I wish to associate myself with this statement.
Professor Janice Bially Mattern
National University of Singapore

Failing to stand up for academic freedom is always a penny-wise, pound-foolish policy for a university, as the respite gained from politically motivated attackers is temporary, but the damage done to a university’s reputation in the academic community is permanent.

Also associated with this statement

Dan Davies (private individual)

I support Loomis, and this statement.

Jesse Bailey
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Sacred Heart University

I support this statement.

I fully support this statement.

James Kim
Assistant Professor of English
Fordham University

Please add my name to the list of supporters for Dr. Loomis.
Ann Kottner, Adjunct Professor of English, New Jersey City University
AFT Local 1839 Rep and Recording Secretary

I have no affiliation with a university other than loans, but I do blog, and I support and stand with Erik Loomis (whom I read regularly and learn from even when I don’t agree with).

I support this statement.

I would like to co-sign this statement, and offer Erik Loomis my support.

Stephen Frug
Visiting Assistant Professor
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

I fully endorse this statement.

Blain Neufeld
Assistant Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

I support this statement fully as well as Erik Loomis’ right to freedom of speech and academic freedom.

Dr. Charles Snodgrass
Department of English
Grambling State University

I endorse this statement

James Johnson
Professor
Political Science
University of Rochester

I support the University’s stand against violence and Dr Loomis’s right to use a metaphor.

Replacing my #307.

I’m proud to stand with this statement and with Mr. Loomis.

Steve Timberlake

I stand with Erik Loomis and wholeheartedly agree with this statement.

Michelle Martin Doty
East Lyme, CT

Erik Loomis should be supported 100% in this. I fully endorse this statement in support of Erik Loomis, and I have sent my endorsement to the URI administration as a fully-named American citizen.

I support this statement.

I support this statement.

Visiting Assistant Professor of History
Wesleyan University

I support this statement in defense of my professor, Erik Loomis.

I have the utmost respect for Prof. Loomis. My class time with him has been nothing but a positive experience. He is smart, funny, and makes class enjoyable. URI is extremely lucky to have a professor with these qualities as a member of their staff.

Graduate Student
University of Rhode Island

Mark Duckenfield

Associate Professor of International Political Economy
Air War College

Solidarity expressed.

There is a qualitative difference between the use of what might be construed as an intemperate metaphor and and the utterance of an actual threat. The University’s failure to make that distinction is an act of shameful cowardice.

Lawrence Stuart

I fully endorse this statement.

Ahmad Mojiri
Saint Xavier University

I support this statement. As tenure becomes ever less accessible, we need to see to it that university administrators don’t see the untenured as easy prey for convenient sacrifices to political pressure.

David Steinsaltz
University Lecturer in Statistics
University of Oxford

I stand (metaphorically) with Erik, who stands for honesty, literacy, scholarship, and humanity.

I am proud to stand with my friend Erik Loomis.

I fully endorse this statement.

I am in support of Prof Loomis and free speech. And for the head of the NRA’s head on a figurative stick.

I agree with this statement and support Professor Loomis.

I support this statement and Professor Loomis.

I will write a firm but polite letter of protest to the URI president tomorrow.

Jason Brennan
Georgetown

I’m absolutely on your side. Good luck to Erik Loomis.

I wrote to Dr Dooley last night; I shall now write to the Provost and Dean. Loomis deserves their support, as well as ours.

I firmly support this statement and Erik Loomis.
Andrew Seal
PhD Candidate, American Studies, Yale University

I fully support this statement.

Elizabeth Van Horn
Los Angeles, California

I have worked with Erik and found him bright, interesting, creative, and informed. He does not have a violent bone in his body. His statement could only be depicted as a physical threat by those who are following the tactic of “the best defense is a good offense.”
The conversation should quickly go back to one about how to prevent such mass shootings as we have been witnessing too often. Erik should not be the topic.

I hope colleagues on his faculty and in his administration (they are colleagues too, aren’t they) should come to his support and help comfort him at a time that is undoubtedly emotionally draining for him.

I wrote this letter. And please add my name to this.

The right-wing’s orchestrated campaign – full of synthetic outrage of the sort they’re so accomplished at producing – against Eric Loomis is outrageous. Loomis spoke figuratively over an issue that excites passions, and there’s no way that what he said should be interpreted as a literal threat. You are academics, and I’m sure you know this.

Drop any threats against Loomis. This is an important principle of academic freedom, and it would shame your university to treat it in any other fashion.

Doug Henwood
editor, Left Business Observer

producer, “Behind the News”
KPFA, 94.1 FM Berkeley, Thursdays at noon

242 Greene Ave – #1C
Brooklyn, NY 11238-1398 USA
+1-347-599-2211

“blog”:
Twitter: @DougHenwood

It is, frankly, shameful that URI administrators would offer any response whatsoever to malicious provocateurs.

I support this statement.

Patrick A. Dolan Jr.
Lecturer, Rhetoric, The University of Iowa

I support this statement.

I support Erik Loomis’s academic freedom and right to free speech. The NRA, one could say, is demanding Loomis’s head on a stake. Any university worthy of the name should be able to resist these vile purveyors of violence. A tiny bit of courage from administrators is required. We’ll soon see if they have it.

I add my name in support of this statement.

Jeffrey Roland
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Louisiana State University

The history department at the University of Rhode Island has been, since I joined the faculty in 1969, and retired in 2010, a staunch advocate of academic freedom. I support Erik’s right to make the statement he made, and I believe the current administration at URI – the president, the provost, and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences – have been cowardly in giving him up to the gun lobby wolves in our nation.

Sharon Hartman Strom, Professor Emerita of History, the University of Rhode Island

I support this statement.

I totally support this statement and Erik Loomis.

Chip Gagnon
Dept of Politics
Ithaca College

Of course I support this statement. If not, I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas. Optatives forever!

V. Alan White, PhD
University of Wisconsin–Manitowoc

I support Crooked Timber’s statement in support of Prof. Loomis.

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

I stand by Erik and this statement.

Yann Kerevel
Assistant Professor, Political Science
Lewis University

I firmly support this statement, and am dismayed by the stance of the administrators of the University of Rhode Island. It appears they see nothing wrong with throwing people under the bus while professing ignorance of figures of speech such as “throwing people under the bus”.

Yemon Choi
Assistant Professor, Mathematics
University of Saskatchewan

I wish to associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis.

I have written the three named URI administrators urging that they not give into what I characterized as mob pressure. I wish to associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis

Donald A. Coffin
Emeritus Associate Professor
Indiana University Northwest
Gary, IN

I support this statement.

Steven Pierce
Department of History
University of Manchester

I support this statement, & deplore the failure of the URI administration to give Professor Loomis their fullest support as he faces this unsupportable attack.

John Beer
Assistant Professor of English
Portland State University

I happily join all the “bodies” (ain’t no nobodies on this list) in supporting Professor Erik Loomis in his speaking truth to power. I thank the authors of this statement and add my name in association.

Amy M Hay
History Professor
UTPA

I support this statement.

I support this statement.

I support Erik Loomis and academic freedom.

I support this statement, and have emailed President Dooley.

I wish to associate myself with this statement in support of Erik Loomis. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

I support this statement.

I support this statement and Erik Loomis’ freedom of speech.

I support Erik Loomis, and I support the right to free speech.

I support this statement. I hope that university administrators and other officials will, at minimum, exercise basic rhetorical competence when evaluating public political utterances. Similarly, they shouldn’t pretend to be ignorant who exactly is agitating against Dr. Loomis, and why.

Dave Barber, J.D. candidate, Harvard Law School

I support this statement and Professor Loomis’ freedom of speech.

Theodore McLauchlin
Postdoctoral Fellow
CEPSI, Université de Montréal

I support this statement and Dr. Erik Loomis

Bijan Parsia
Senior Lecturer
School of Computer Science
University of Manchester, UK

It’s sad that this action even needs to be taken, but I stand behind this statement and with Erik Loomis.

Scott Ross
Graduate Student, Yale University

I wholeheartedly support this statement.

Adam Parsons, Ph.D. candidate, history, Syracuse University.

Add my name, please.

Phil Gasper
Madison College
Madison, WI

I wish to add my name to those who share the concern that Eric Loomis is being absurdly vilified for an off the cuff remark that was merely a figure of speech and not even remotely a serious death threat.

I support this statement and Erik Loomis.

Andrew Iliadis, Doctoral Student
Communication and Philosophy
Purdue University

I fully support Erik Loomis.

I support this statement and Dr. Loomis.

Jake Mattox
Department of English
Indiana University, South Bend

I stand with Erik Loomis, free speech, and academic freedom.

I support this statement and the freedom to use metaphors, extremely common or otherwise.
Liam Drain
Ceramics Studio Tech, Pacific NW College of Art

Please add my name to this list. If you wish, note that I am a URI grad, 1982.

Agreed. Metaphors should not be read literally simply in order to attack one’s enemies.

An academic adminstrator who conflates a figure of speech with a call to violence should have their sheepskin shorn. Why is the administration gunning for Erik Loomis?

I agree with this statement.

Knowing nothing else about Loomis, I support this statement. But I think the academic freedom concern is secondary. The big threat is that a group of well-coordinated attack dogs have learned than truth does not matter in the public space anymore. Any sane person knows what Loomis meant on this topic. The attackers do too. This skirmish is about the ability to shape the gun debate, or any debate, with forceful, easily-debunked lies. The method works, as we see here, and we who care about reality have got to fight back. Maybe with sticks. Sticks of, um, compassion, of course.

Well ha ha ha. Perhaps those who blamed Sarah Palin for a mass murder because she had a jpeg on her website might reflect upon who is most guilty of this sort of thing.

I endorse the statement in support Erik Loomis, academic freedom, and his tweeted sentiments. I have also emailed the three individuals named above.
Martha Rosler
Professor II Emerita
Rutgers University

I wholeheartedly endorse the above statement.

The University Rhode Island should ignore this specious claim that a simple metaphor is a death threat. I stand with Erik Loomis and the right to freedom of speech for all Americans.

I strongly endorse this statement and condemn URI administrators’ lack of preparedness to defend elementary freedom of expression.

Departments of English and Linguistics
University of Sydney
Australia

I join with you in supporting Erik.

I endorse this statement and support Erik Loomis.

Completely agreed. Count this as my signature in support.

I endorse this statement fully. The URI administrators’ language is unworthy of an institution of higher learning.

Hugh Miller
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Loyola University Chicago

I support this statement. Dr. Loomis’ statement was clearly metaphorical and not a call for violence.

Tony Cebzanov
Carnegie Mellon University

I’m among those who’ve disagreed with Mr. Loomis on politics lately. But I completely agree with this statement. This is a brazen, utterly unprincipled political stunt; the University of Rhode Island must not play along with it.

I can only speak for myself, but I support this statement.

I associate myself with this statement.

Shane Herron
Department of English
Furman University

I associate myself with this statement and support Erik Loomis.

I wish to associate myself with this statement.

I support Erik Loomis and this statement.

I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, and with Dr. Loomis. His language is clearly within normal bounds, and the example being made of him is purely about silencing a strong voice for the reality-based community. I have found value in his writings on LGM, and the world of academia would be impoverished if his voice were silenced or muzzled, or merely voluntarily muzzled.

He said nothing of which anyone should be ashamed or troubled, and those who argue otherwise are pursuing an agenda unrelated to the actual promotion of civility in dicourse and society.

I support this statement, academic freedom and freedom of speech in general.

I support Dr. Loomis’s right to metaphorical free speech. Also Sarah Palin’s.

Please sign me onto your statement in support of Professor Loomis. If a statement as mild as Professor Loomis’s can be grounds for losing a teaching job in a university, then academic freedom has lost all meaning. It is sad to see that his university has felt the need to cave in to the rightwing NRA and all the hypocritical rightwing bloggers and pundits. It should be defending the professor’s right to express his point of view. Let’s remember, he used a common figure of speech. The power of the NRA and its rightist brethren has been responsible for an extremely large number of actual deaths.

I support this statement and am troubled by the frequent inability for administration to discern rhetoric from policy or actual intent. This kind of reaction is all-to-common in all schools – especially k-12 schools – and is socially damaging and irresponsible.

I agree with and support this statement.

I support Erik Loomis. It’s disgusting to watch the NRA and its affiliates spend so much time not just defending unlimited gun rights, but trying to suppress all discussion of limiting those rights. They’re so busy on their reading of the 2nd Amendment, they forgot about the First.

I completely support this statement on behalf of Erik Loomis, free speech, and a reasonable understanding of the English language.

John Carson
Associate Professor
University of Michigan

As an alumni of the University of Rhode Island, I support this statement. I am gravely disappointed that the administration at the University has failed to support and defend a faculty member from spurious accusations by individuals that insist on a literal interpretation of a commonly used metaphor.

I totally support Erik – always have, always will

I support this statement.

I strongly support this statement. Any attempt to fire, dismiss, or intimidate Erik Loomis would constitute an unacceptable attack against freedom of speech rights.

I stand behind Professor Loomis — An injury to one is an injury to all!

I support this statement and Dr Erik Loomis

I support this statement.

I strongly support this statement.

Roy Rogers
PhD. Candidate, CUNY Graduate Center

I support this statement and Dr. Loomis.

I support this statement.

Susan Peterson
Professor of Government
College of William & Mary

I support this statement.

Jennifer Seltz
History Department
Western Washington University

I stand with Professor Loomis. It’s a shame his University kowtows to the gun-fetishists.

This is ludicrous. I fully support this statement.

I completely support Eric Loomis.

Casey Boggioni
Graduate Student
John Jay College

I support this statement and offer my sincere hope that a group of dishonest and manipulative individuals will not, once again, succeed in destroying someone’s life through a ginned up controversy helped along by the cowardice of people who know better.

Professor
English Department
Hofstra University

URI writes that “The University is committed to fostering a safe, inclusive and equitable culture”–but not a culture “safe” for metaphor or “inclusive” of those who speak metaphorically about justice? Hmm.

I associate myself with and support your important statement. The URI administration appears to be listening to those who want Professor Erik Loomis’ head on a platter. In the interest of academic freedom and the credibility of the academy, that cannot be allowed to happen.

Jose Gomez, J.D.
Member of the Faculty – Constitutional Law

I support this statement.

I completely support Mr. Loomis. The attacks upon him are vile and stupid.

I’m in: I support this statement and Eric Loomis.

Loren King
Political Science
Wilfrid Laurier University

I stand in support of Erik Loomis and against the distortions of the right wing.

I wholeheartedly support Erik Loomis and agree with the editors of this blog regarding the matter. Please add my name in support of this statement.

Graduate Student
Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs

This statement reflects my views on the matter to a T.
Dr. Alan P. Rudy
East Lansing, MI

I strongly support this statement.

Ora Szekely
Assistant Professor, Political Science, Clark University

Please add my name to the list of those in support of Erik Loomis and his right to speak his mind. I fully support this statement.

I write in support of this statement and Dr. Loomis.

James Gramlich
Associate Professor of Sociology
William Rainey Harper College

I fully support this statement.

Last time around, I didn’t mention my affiliation. So please ignore #203 and consider this the replacement. Obviously, I speak for myself.

Jamsheed Siyar
Visiting Assistant Professor
College of Wooster

Please add my name as well to this list of supporters. I fully support this statement and his right to speak his mind.

I support the statement and wish to sign on to it.

I support Eric Loomis

I support the right of anyone to use the occasional rhetorical flourish and the mild, intemperate remarks that accompany much of our discourse in this country. If you can’t say anything unpopular, why are you trying to teach people in the first place?

Warren Jason Street
BS English & History
University of Maryland University College
(I will never teach, never I tell you. Never. But I like people who do teach.)

As an educator of young children, former Western CT resident, and a person who has cried daily since the tragedy last week – not to mention having known Erik for a number of years and not always agreeing with him but certainly envying his brilliance – I am appalled by this saga. I wholeheartedly endorse his cause.

I fully support this statement. The URI administrators should keep their heads.

Gregory Cherlin, Department of Mathematics, Rutgers University

I, too, support Eric Loomis.

Signed in support of the statement.

Walter Simons
Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire

I fully endorse this statement and support Erik Loomis’s right to free expression.

I support the first amendment rights of Eric Loomis and think that the failure of his university to stand behind those rights is terrible.
Debra Satz
Stanford University

I support this statement.

Katherine Herman
Lecturer
University of Maryland

Support.

Count me in.

I fully support this statement and Professor Loomis.

Laura Doty, Ph.D.

I too support the statement.

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Liverpool.

I strongly endorse you.

under the general statement made by Voltaire “I [may] disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”

Mauro Thon Giudici
Milan, Italy

I wholeheartedly support this statement and Erik Loomis.

How dry and emotionless a culture without metaphor. Please add me in support of Loomis.

I support Erik Loomis

I support this statement on behalf of Mr. Loomis.

Noel Jackson

Please add my name to this statement.

I support this statement, and have sent an e-mail to this effect.

I wish to have my name added to this statement. This kind of bullying must be resisted.

Only sorry that I saw this so late. I support the statement.

William Kindred Winecoff
PhD candidate
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Assistant Professor
Indiana University at Bloomington (effective August 2013)

I stand with Erik. Please add my name

Andrew B. Lee, recently graduated M.A. student in Dept. of Sociology at Cal State Fullerton.

Lecturer in Business Administration at Sahmyook University starting 2013.

I emphatically support this statement.

Ian Munro
Associate Professor of Drama
UC Irvine

(Over 600 responses and not one Pratchettian “onna stick” joke? Come on, people!)

I endorse this.

Patrick Tomlin
University of Reading

I support this statement.

I don’t even think it’s a question of freedom of speech. I don’t think anyone has a right to issue death threats, but I do think people have a right to use ordinary metaphors that are clearly not death threats.

I stand firmly behind this statement, and firmly opposed to the crassly cynical, strategic literalism of petulant children.

Adam Haley
Lecturer in English
Penn State University

I write in support of the statement.

{Sheesh, Juan Cole and Yale… Michael Mann and the Virginia AG… now this…}

Hang tough Dr. Loomis.

Steve Lawrence, Ph.D.
Research Chemist

I’m nobody important, and I endorse this message.

non-academic

I support this statement and denounce the attack on Erik Loomis.

Adam Hosein
University of Colorado, Boulder

I fully support Dr Loomis, metaphors, free speech, and academic freedom

I support this statement entirely
Andrew Brown

I wish to add my name to those supporting Eric Loomis in the struggle against the banal evil demonstrated by NRA acolytes. The world watches.
Richard Lawrence MB BS PhD FRACP
Conjoint Senior Lecturer in Medicine, University of Newcastle.

I’m a fellow American, and I wholeheartedly support this statement. Thank you for giving us this vehicle for speaking out.

I support this statement.
Adam Humphreys, Fellow in Politics, Brasenose College, Oxford

I wish to associate myself with this statement

Jonathan Perraton, Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Sheffield, UK

I support this statement.

Paulina Sliwa

I would like to associate myself with this statement.
Dr Lee Jones
Queen Mary, University of London

Of all the phoney psuedo- outrages whipped up by the wingnuts this is easily the phoniest. These people have no shame.

I support this statement.

I wish to associate myself with this statement

Andrew Bartlett
Research Fellow, Migration Law Program
Australian National University

My wife is a high school teacher in Franklin, MA which is on the border with Rhode Island. Of course, I support this statement.

Please add my name to the supporters of Professor Loomis.

In support of Eric loomis.

I endorse this statement.

Neil Levy, University of Oxford and Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health.

I wholeheartedly support this statement and Professor Loomis. Please add my name.

Carole-Ann Warburton
(British person of no importance)

I agree with Prof. Loomis’s call for meaningful consequences for Mr. LaPierre. I support his right to express that opinion using a common metaphor. I disagree with the University of Rhode Island’s decision to distance itself from its professor.

I support Erik.

I’ve got a BA from Brown (2002) and an MFA from the University of Iowa’s playwriting program (2008). I stand in support of Erik Loomis.

I support this statement and Erik Loomis.

Please add my name.

Jay Driskell
Assistant Professor, Hood College

I support this statement

Please delete my post above and add this one with my affiliation:

I sign this letter and support its content.

Chris Howell
Professor of Politics
Oberlin College,
Oberlin, Ohio

I endorse this statement in support of Prof. Loomis.

Sam Nelson
University of Toledo

I support this statement on behalf of both Erik Loomis and a sensible understanding of figurative language generally.

Coulter George
University of Virginia

I fully support and wish to associate myself with this statement.

Kim Lacey
Saginaw Valley State University

I support this statement.

Dan Kärreman
Professor, Copenhagen Business School

I wish to associate myself with this statement. susan DAvis, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign

I support this statement.

Assuming that your coverage is accurate and that is all Professor Loomis said, then I support this statement fully. It’s a sad day when a university administration kowtows to the NRA and conservative pundits.

Matt Stambaugh
Doctoral Student
Louisiana State University

I support this statement, and find it troubling that the University has such a thin grasp on metaphor.

I support this statement.

Sincerely,
Edgar Crutchfield